Özofagus Atrezili Çocuk Sahibi Ebeveynlerin Postür, Fiziksel Aktivite ve Yaşam Kalitesinin Değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

Elmalı İpek, Y. Evaluation of Posture, Physical Activity, and Quality of Life in Parents of Children with Esophageal Atresia. Hacettepe University Graduate School of Health Sciences Neurology Physiotherapist Master’s Thesis, Ankara, 2023. The aim of this study was to evaluate the posture, physical activity, and quality of life of parents of children with Esophageal Atresia (EA) and to compare with parents of typically developing children. In our study, 20 children with EA between ages of 2-6 and their parents were included as study group, and 20 healthy children between ages of 2-6 and their parents were included as control group. Assessments performed on children included recording demographic information, determination of dysphagia symptom severity (Pediatric version of the Eating Assessment Tool, PEDI-EAT-10), assessment of motor development level (Neurological Sensory, Motor, Developmental Assessment, NSMDA), and determination of functional skills and performance (Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory, PEDI). After recording demographic information of parents, the New York Posture Rating Test (NY-PRT) was used for posture assessment, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) was used to determine the level of physical activity, Turkish version of the Feeding-Swallowing Impact Survey (T-FS-IS) was used to assess the quality of life in relation to the child's swallowing and feeding function, and the Short Form-36 (SF-36) was used to assess quality of life. In addition, McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) to assess pain, the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) to assess fatigue severity, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to assess sleep quality, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to assess depression severity, and the Burden Interview to assess the burden of caregiving were used. Children in study and control groups were similar in terms of age, gender, body weight, and number of siblings (p>0.05). Of children with EA included in the study, 70% (n=14) had type C, 4% (n=4) had type A and 2% (n=2) had type B EA. There were differences in favor of control group in terms of PEDI-EAT-10 scores (p<0.01), motor development level (p<0.01) and functional skill and performance scores (p<0.05). Parents of study and control group were similar in terms of age, height, body weight, BMI, marital status, educational level, occupation, and economic status (p>0.05). Although there was a significant difference in terms of posture between parents in two groups (p = 0.01), posture of parents in study group was worse. There was no significant difference between parents in two groups in terms of physical activity score (p=0.07) and physical activity level (p=0.08). Although there was no statistically significant difference, 70% (n=14) of study group were determined to be inactive, while this rate was 35% (n=7) for control group. Although there was a difference in T-FS-IS scores between groups (p<0.05), quality of life related to swallowing and feeding function was lower in study group. There was no significant difference between groups in terms of pain, fatigue severity, sleep quality, depression severity, caregiving burden and SF-36 scores (p>0.05). As a result, it was observed that postures of parents of children with EA were more affected than parents of typically developing children. Therefore, it was thought that parents of children with EA are vulnerable to experiencing musculoskeletal problems due to the negative impact of posture. It was determined that both groups were similar in terms of physical activity and quality of life, but parents of children with EA were more prone to an inactive lifestyle. It was observed that quality of life of parents of children with EA was negatively affected by swallowing and feeding functions. Thus, it was thought that parents should be considered in terms of posture, physical activity level, and quality of life in cases where chronic care is required, as seen in children with EA. Keywords: Esophageal Atresia, Parent, Posture, Physical Activity, Quality of Life