Dietary Counseling Program for Mothers of Children with Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move
and maintain balance and posture. CP is the most common motor disability in
childhood. Cerebral means having to do with the brain. Palsy means weakness or
problems with using the muscles. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate dietary
counseling program for mothers of children with cerebral palsy through, assess
mothers' knowledge and practices regarding to cerebral palsy; and appraise dietary
counseling program for mothers of children diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Setting:
This study conducted at faculty of physical therapy of Cairo University and neuro
outpatient clinic in Sayed Galal hospital at Bab-AL-Shareya Cairo, Egypt. Design:
A quasi experimental design was used. Subject: This study included seventy
mothers of children with cerebral palsy came to neuro outpatient clinic at faculty
of physical therapy of Cairo university and fifty mothers of children with cerebral
palsy from neuro outpatient clinic in Sayed Galal hospital at Bab-AL-Shareya
Cairo, Egypt. Tools: An interview questionnaire tool used in this study pre and
post dietary counseling program, include three parts, I) socio-demographic
characteristics for mothers of children with cerebral palsy; II) Mothers’ knowledge
(pre and post) regarding to cerebral palsy; and III) Mothers' reported practices
regarding dietary counseling program for their children with cerebral palsy.
Results: an improvement of mothers' Knowledge and reported practice post dietary
program than pre the program, the mothers' Knowledge mean and standard
deviation pre-program is (53.0702 ± 29.77748), while post-program is89.3202 ±
11.68589 with highly statistically significant differences, also the mothers' reported
practice mean and standard deviation pre-program is (42.6667 ± 27.76653), and
post-program is (75.0833 ± 20.29181) with highly statistically significant
differences. Conclusion Mothers' knowledge and reported practices toward their
children with cerebral palsy improved significantly post implementation of the
dietary program. Recommended: Periodically dietary counseling program for
mothers help to improve their practices for enhancement of dietary condition for
their children with cerebral palsy and reduce the complications of cerebral palsy
and malnutrition