Psychological Implications in Parents of Cleft Lip and Palate Children

To determine quality of life of parents of children with cleft lip and palate and to compare it with parents of non cleft lip and palate children. World Health Organisation Quality of Life (Bref, Field Trial version,1996) for parents of children with cleft lip and palate. Total of 40 parents were questioned , 20 were parents of CLP children and the other 20 were parents of non cleft children. The scores of quality of life for parents of the cleft children were significantly lower than the parents of non-cleft children. The parents of children with clefts had a lower Quality of Life score as compared to the parents of children with no clefts. INTRODUCTION Clefts of the lip and palate (CLP) are by far the most common, major congenital malformations of the face. The prevalence of cleft lip and palate is 1 in 500 to 1000 live births worldwide, with highest incidence in Afghans (4.9 per 1000 live births) and lowest in Negroid (1 in 3000). In India from hospital-acquired data, the incidence is 1.97 per 1000 live births. The psychosocial variables play a pivotal role in normal functioning of an individual. Subjects with cleft lip and palate therefore require an interdisciplinary approach for proper management and rehabilitation. Despite the interdisciplinary approach of treatment, an approach to get into the insight of psychosocial variables among subjects with cleft lip and palate is not explored adequately. It is likely that the prevalence of psychological problems might be higher than what the literature suggests, since only 20% of cleft teams worldwide had carried out psychological assessment of either the patients or their parents. Although health related quality of life is becoming an important outcome