Investigation of the Psychological Status of Families, Especially of Mothers of Children with Cleft Lips and Palates

In order to promote improved postoperative therapeutic results for patients with labial and palatal clefts, the authors conducted periodical surveys on patients' mothers, who have the closest relationship with the patients, after each stage of therapy by using a free descriptive question-naire method. The objective of the survy series was to see changes in recognition, emotion and action of mothers and other family members toward patients over time. This survey was conducted on a total of 393 mothers of which,104 were mothers of patients with cleft lips,71 were mothers of patients with cleft paiates and 218 were mothers of patients with cleft lips and palates. During a postoperative period, the following conclusions were drawn:<BR>1. Therapeutic treatment greatly reduces the psychological pressure on mothers are family members. This is especially true of cleft lip surgery.<BR>2. Maternal grandparents are supportive of the patients' mothers from the pre-operative time and remain the same after the operation.<BR>3. Paternal sisters who show self-centered and non-supportive attitudes to the patients' mothers in the preoperative time do not change their attitude after the operation.<BR>4. Neighbors' attitudes are relatively indifferent, which suggests that there is a lack of public understanding about this disorder.<BR>5. Although mothers are relieved to a certain degree after the primary plastic surgery, many of them are still concerned with their children's appearance because they fear the surgery did not fully resolve the problem. Many mothers of patients with cleft palates are concerned about speech problems even aft e r the operation, largely because speech improvement is difficult to assess immediately after the operation. Also, a number of mothers are worried about the recovery of oral function as the teeth straigh t en and the jaw grows. Thus, it is important to discuss these postoperative anxieties with the patients'mothers.