Negative emotions and quality of life of parents with children diagnosed with anorectal malformations

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the anxiety, depression, stress, and quality of life of parents with children diagnosed with anorectal malformations.

Methods: 68 parents participated in the study and completed the unified Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Self-Rating Depression Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF.

Results: Compared with the Chinese reference values, parents in our study had higher scores on anxiety and depression and lower scores on the psychological and environmental domain of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF. Parents who live in rural areas, pay for medical treatment out of pocket, and have multiple children are prone to feel anxious. Parents with multiple children also scored worse in the domains of physiology, psychology, social relationships, and general quality of life assessment. They scored significantly lower in the domains of psychology and social relationships when parents had a low education level. Parents of children who had undergone staged operations got lower scores on the general quality of life assessment.

Conclusions: Parents of children with anorectal malformations have varying degrees of psychological and emotional problems that require attention in the clinic.

Keywords: Anorectal malformations; Negative emotions; Parenting; Quality of life.