Comparison of caregivers' parenting burden between cleft and non-cleft patients in pre-adolescence and adolescence under orthodontic treatment

Abstract

1.BACKGROUND Cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) is one of the most common congenital deformities in the head and neck region throughout the world. Many researchers have found that the caregivers of congenitally disordered patients have different characteristics such as depression, anxiety and parenting stress. Since CLP patients tend to have the mid-face deficiency and Class III malocclusion, they need the life-long orthodontic treatment and periodic check-ups. CLP patients in young age visit the orthodontic clinics with their caregivers, who frequently interact with dentists. The main aim of this study was to compare the burden from parenting between caregivers of CLP and non-CLP.

2.METHODS Subjects consisted of 80 caregivers of patients aged 8 to 15 years who visited the Department of Orthodontics at Seoul National University Dental Hospital from August 21st, 2017 to September 8th, 2017. To enhance the study reliability, only female caregivers, mothers, were selected for this research. Subjects were divided into two groups

Group A (experimental group, caregivers of patients with CLP, n = 44) and Group B (control group, caregivers of patients with non-CLP, n = 36). CLP and all types of congenital deformities were excluded for Group B. Two types of questionnaires focusing on the level of burden and stress from parenting were distributed to subjects

Burden Interview (BI) and Bangor Mindful Parenting Scale (BMPS). Higher total scores indicate the greater level of parenting burden for both scales. Statistical comparison of total scores between two groups and subgroup analyses in each score were performed with a significance level of 0.05 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA).

3.RESULTS 1) Although the experimental group (Group A, caregivers of CLP patients) showed higher average scores for both BI and BMPS than the control group (Group B, caregivers of non-CLP patients), (Group A, Group B: BI 14.55 vs. 12.91, BMPS 18.13 vs. 17.32), there were no significant differences between Groups A and B for both BI and BMPS. (p value = 0.665 for BI and 0.448 for BMPS) 2) For Group A, five types of CLP found

cleft lip, cleft palate, unilateral cleft lip and alveolus, unilateral cleft lip and palate and bilateral cleft lip and palate. Both BI and BMPS had tendency to have higher scores with increasing severity of CLP, however, there were no significant difference among the cleft types. 3) In both Groups A and B, caregivers of female patients tend to show higher BI and BMPS scores than those of male patients, however statistical difference between patient genders was not found.

4.CONCLUSION Although the result in this study indicated that the caregivers of CLP patients have a tendency of higher parenting burden level, the parenting burden of caregivers of CLP patients especially on the orthodontic treatment may be the same with that of non-CLP patients.