The aim of this study were to evaluate pain, care burden, depression level, sleep quality, fatigue and quality of life (QoL) among a group of mothers of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to compare their results with a group of healthy controls. The study involved 101 mothers who had children with CP and 67 mothers who had a healthy child as the control group. Pain, care burden, depression level, sleep quality, fatigue and QoL of all the participants were evaluated by the numerical rating scale, the Zarit care burden scale (ZCBS), the beck depression inventory (BDI), the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), the checklist individual strength (CIS) and the short form-36 (SF-36), respectively. Numerical rating scale value was 3.57 ± 2.96 in the patient group. When the two groups were compared, the CP group showed higher scores for ZCBS, BDI, PSQI, total CIS and SF-36 subscales of general health and vitality whereas the scores for role physical, role emotional, mental health and mental component summary were found to be lower in the patients, compared to the control group. Reducing caregiving burden of the mothers' by other family members and increasing psychosocial supports may help improve the mother's health status.
Keywords: Cerebral palsy; depression level; fatigue; mothers; quality of life.