Abstract

AMARAL, Vera Lúcia Adami Raposo do  and  MAGNA, Luiz Alberto. Marital satisfaction of couples with craniofacial deformities children. Rev. bras. ter. comport. cogn. [online]. 1999, vol.1, n.2, pp. 143-157. ISSN 1517-5545.

This investigations aimed to verify the marital satisfaction of parents with children with craniofacial deformities and to follow-up for a period of three months after the first interview, in order to detect some possible changes during this time. It was interviewed 20 couples of children with facial deformities. It was used a scale named "Marital Satisfaction Index"- MSI. It was used as well one identification sheet to get data like parents' profession, pregnancy planning, position of the child in the family, and other questions aiming to investigate the parents' reaction to birth of the child, believes, and fellings in relations to general caring with the baby and the relationship between the couple after the birth. The data show little significant differences between fathers and mothers, and between the first and second inteiview. The itens most significant was related to trust, understanding between the couple, sexual satisfaction, interest and dialog. In relation to the analised clusters like sexual, afective and social relashionship, dialog, and relashionship with relatives, the most significant factor was the sexual relationship. The most frequent situations lived by the parents was the negative psychological experience for the mothers, pointing out that the birth of a defective child affects more the mothers than the fathers. The causes of deformities was view by both parents more as supersticious, showing the force of the cultures in the parents' believes. The data pointed to the need of psychological intervention with parents of facial disfigured children. The support and right informations could facilitate the coping process and help the parents to help their children in the long avenue to reabilitation.

Keywords : marital satisfaction; chronically ill child; facial deformity child.

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