A Comparison of Time Use Patterns and Self-Efficacy between Mothers of Children with Cerebral Palsy and Mothers of Typically Developing Children

Abstract Objectives Comparing time use patterns and self-efficacy in two groups of mothers including mothers of children with CP and mothers of children with typical development is the main objective of this study. Method This study was carried out in 2017 in Arak, on 200 mothers. Multiple sources of evaluation were used including Mothers' Time Use Questionnaire and Sherer General Self-efficacy Questionnaire. SPSS 22 software was used to analyze the data. Results Mean age of children in group of children with CP was 4.64±1.46 and in group of children with typical development was 4.64±1.47 .Significant differences were found between groups in the amount of time spent in various occupations including self-care, childcare and household, leisure, rest/sleep, and work. Mothers of children with CP significantly spend a bigger proportion of time on "rest/sleep" and "childcare and household " areas (p <0.001). However mothers of children with typically development spent significantly more time in "Self-care"(p =0.01), "Leisure"(p <0.001) and "Work" (p <0.001) areas. Also significant differences were found between groups in the level of satisfaction. Discussion Lower total score of the time use questionnaire in the group of mothers of children withCP may be due to the nature of limitations and the negative burden of this type of disease in terms of socio-cultural and less health systems services.