Comparing Time Use Between Mothers of Pre-School and School-Aged Children With Cerebral Palsy

The time use of people in the occupation areas is affected by conditions, such as disability, environment, and family changes. One of these disabilities is Cerebral Palsy (CP), which requires long-term care. This study aimed to determine the difference between time use of mothers of school-aged children with CP with mothers of pre-school children with CP.
The present study is a descriptive/analytical study. A total of 64 mothers of children with CP along with their children, aged 4-12 years, were participated in this study. They were divided into two groups; mothers of pre-school and mothers of school-aged children. In this study, mother’s time use form was used to collect data. Then, the obtained data were analyzed by SPSS-19 conducting the Independent t test and Mann-Whitney tests to compare the two groups.
There was a significant difference between two groups with respect in working days of the week (P=0.009). This study indicated that mothers of the schoolgoer children allocated more time for their children. There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to their time use on holidays and weekends.
According to the findings, particular attention must be paid to the quality of life of mothers with school-aged children who have CP.