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Children with Apert syndrome: behavioural problems and family stress
Author(s) -
Sarimski Klaus
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
developmental medicine and child neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.658
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1469-8749
pISSN - 0012-1622
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1998.tb15355.x
Subject(s) - apert syndrome , syndactyly , psychology , craniosynostosis , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , pediatrics , surgery
Apert syndrome is characterized by severe craniosynostosis, midface hypoplasia, and symmetric syndactyly of the hands and sometimes of the feet. In this study, postal questionnaires were completed by parents of 41 children with Apert syndrome. Data from this preliminary survey revealed that the children functioned fairly well socially despite their disabilities and potential for psychological difficulties. Parents suffered from stress caused by problems over acceptance of the child'sappearance, the child'sbehavioural problems, and parental low self‐esteem. Ten mothers and eight fathers scored in the deviant range for parental stress, suggesting a need for psychological counselling.