Author(s)

Katiane da Costa Cunha^*, Fernando Augusto Ramos Pontes, Simone Souza da Costa Silva

Postgraduate Program in Theory and Research of Behavior, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil.

This study aimed to investigate the association between the stress levels of parents of children with cerebral palsy and the degree of functional impairment of their children, as well as to explore socio-demographic variables that may potentiate the effects of the motor impairment degree generating high or low/standard stress levels in 92 parents of children with cerebral palsy treated at a federal public hospital of reference in the state of Pará. The instruments used were the Socio-demographic Inventory (ISD), the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) and the Parenting Stress Index-short form (PSI/SF). Analyses were performed using SPSS version 20.0. The results showed a greater number of stressed parents in the Difficult Child subscale and a significant relation between the children classified with severe motor impairment and the manifestation of parenting stress. This research showed an approximate age range of children with cerebral palsy in both stressed and little stressed parent groups, but the presence of younger stressed parents in the group was observed. On the other hand, in the group of little stressed parents, a significant aspect found was the prolonged time of union of thecouple at the time of birth of the child with cerebral palsy. The findings of this study intend to contribute to the increase of research about the relation between stress in parents of children with cerebral palsy and the motor function of their children, a theme poorly addressed in national and international research.

Psychological Stress, Parents, Cerebral Palsy

da Costa Cunha, K. , Pontes, F. and da Costa Silva, S. (2017) Parenting Stress and Motor Function of Children with Cerebral Palsy. Psychology, 8, 44-58. doi: 10.4236/psych.2017.81004.