Social Participation in Mothers of Children with Phenylketonuria and Mothers of Healthy Children in Hamadan

Social participation is one of the most important concepts in diseases. Considering the complications of phenylketonuria and the role of mothers as one of the family members, this study aimed at comparing the social participation of mothers of children with phenylketonuria and mothers of healthy children in Hamadan.
In this descriptive-comparative study, 65 mothers with phenylketonuria and 122 healthy mothers in Hamedan in during year 2016 participated. Convenience samples were selected from mothers with phenylketonuria and simple sampling was used to select from mothers of healthy children. The instruments used included demographic information and the questionnaire of “Social Participation Factors of Woman”. Reliability of the questionnaire was obtained by the test-retest method and with intra-class correlation. Data was analyzed using SPSS 23 software.
Social participation in 98.5% of mothers was at a moderate level and in 1.5% it was satisfactory. Social participation in mothers of phenyl ketoneuria children with healthy mothers was statistically significant (P = 0.043). There was a significant correlation between the level of education and social participation of mothers of phenylketonuria children (P = 0.045), yet the effect of income variables, marital status, and gender of the child and the child of phenylketonuria had no significant effect on the social participation of mothers (P > 0.05). The social participation of mothers of phenylketonuria children was low. It is suggested that rehabilitation and psychological interventions should be included to promote the level of social participation of mothers alongside the children's treatment plan.
Social partnerships for mothers of phenyl ketanoric children was at a low level. It is suggested that rehabilitation and psychological interventions should be included to promote the level of social participation of mothers alongside the children's treatment plan.