Assessment of Parental Performance of Children with Chronic Kidney Disease in Ahvaz

Children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) experience many complications such as anemia, growth failure, stress and emotional problems. The responsibility for providing these children with proper health care is their family. The way parents of a child with CKD act is very important in the care of their child. We aimed to evaluate the level of performance of parents with children with CKD in Ahvaz.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, census method was used for sampling. After completing the demographic questionnaires, the Family Assessment Device questionnaire (in general performance dimensions, communication, problem solving, role, emotional responsiveness, emotional involvement, behavior control) was used to assess parental performance of these children.

The study involved 42 parents of children with CKD. The mean±SD age of the children was 9.85±1.22 and the mean±SD duration of illness was 11.18±9.38 months. The results showed that the scores related to general performance (P=0.001), performance communication (P=0.001), problem-solving function (P=0.024), performance role (P=0.038), emotional performance response (P=0.001), emotional performance involvement (P=0.001), performance behavior control (P=0.001) of the study population was significantly higher than the permissible value set by the questionnaire providers, indicating worse performance.

The results showed that parents of children with CKD did not have a sufficient level of performance in caring for their children. Therefore, it seems necessary to provide training programs for this group.