Mothers of children with an orofacial cleft: Satisfaction with motherhood and experience of stress

Objective: To investigate and compare stress and satisfaction with motherhood of mothers of children with versus without an orofacial cleft. Setting: Cleft palate center and a child day care in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Participants: Seventy six mothers with children aged 0-4 years with clefts were included. The children were treated at the academic cleft palate center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Fifty two mothers with children of similar age but with no orofacial cleft attending child day care comprised the comparator group. Main Outcome measures: Mean satisfaction with motherhood and scores for the stress were obtained from ‘Motherhood Satisfaction’ and ‘NOSI-k’ (Nijmeegse Ouderlijke Stress Index short form) questionnaires. Results: No significant difference was observed between the two groups on subscales or the overall ‘Motherhood Satisfaction’ and ‘NOSI-k’ questionnaires . Only an item regarding comfort consulting family/friends about concerns differed significantly. Regression analysis showed that the ‘Competence’ for the mothers of children with cleft palate and ‘Behavior Child’ in the child day care group were significant predictors of the ‘Satisfaction with Motherhood’ grade. Conclusions: Mothers of children with clefts did not differ substantively in their satisfaction with motherhood and they experienced the same stress level as mothers of children without cleft palates. Correspondence to: A Bos, Assistant professor, Department of Orthodontics, Academic Centre of Dentistry Amsterdam, Gustav Mahlerlaan 3004, 1081 LA Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Tel: +31-20-59-80-468; E-mail: [email protected]