Optimism and sense of coherence in mothers and fathers of children with cerebral palsy participating in an intensified habilitation programme

Background: To describe optimism and sense of coherence in mothers and fathers of preschool children with cerebral palsy (CP), before and after participation in an intensified habilitation program.

Methods: Forty-five parents of preschool children with CP answered the Life Orientation Test (LOT) and sense of coherence questionnaire (SOC) twice during one year.

Results: Parents of the youngest CP children and those with high stress levels reported reduced optimism and sense of coherence at baseline. No statistically significant changes in LOT and SOC scores were found during the programme period. However, among mothers who reported clinically significant change, 67% reported more optimism after the program. There was a strong negative correlation between parental stress and LOT and SOC in mothers at baseline, and the fathers results changed to a similar correlation after intervention.

Conclusions: Program intensified habilitation (PIH) seems to induce a more reality-oriented view of the situation among fathers and more optimism among about half of the mothers.