A web-based daily care training to improve the quality of life of mothers of children with cerebral palsy: A randomized controlled trial.
Z Nobakht, M Rassafiani, S A Hosseini and 1 others
PMID 32659699WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers of children with severe cerebral palsy who added a 12-week web-based care training to routine occupational therapy reported better physical health quality of life and less musculoskeletal pain.
Anxiety, depression, and stress did not improve more than with routine care alone.
Key findings
01The intervention group had significantly higher post-test scores for physical health and total quality of life than the control group.
02Musculoskeletal pain scores were significantly lower in the intervention group compared to the control group after treatment.
03There were no significant differences between groups in post-test scores for depression, anxiety, or stress.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was conducted in Iran, where cultural norms mean mothers are typically the primary caregivers, which may limit generalizability to other contexts. The researchers could not record how much time mothers actually spent on the website, so it is unclear if engagement levels affected the results. The study did not account for the mothers' level of experience as caregivers, which previous research suggests influences how they use online health information. Six participants did not receive their allocated intervention, and eight were lost to follow-up, though an intention-to-treat analysis was used to handle missing data.
Declared interests
No specific conflicts of interest or funding sources were declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this web-based training will improve the mental health of caregivers. While it helped with physical quality of life and pain, it did not significantly reduce depression, anxiety, or stress compared to routine occupational therapy alone.