Parent & Patient Satisfaction
Posted on March 22nd, 2007
Perception of appearance and speech by adolescent patients with cleft lip and palate and by their parents.
[Summary]1
This aim of this study was to assess satisfaction with appearance , speech ability, and intelligibility among 102 adolescents (aged between 13 and 19 years old) born with cleft lip and cleft palate, and their parents. The study was carried out by the School of Dentistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and reported in 1988. 55.7% of the children surveyed had had three or more operations.
Patient ratings of facial appearance showed that 59.3% were very pleased with the outcome of the surgery, 13.2% moderately pleased, 18.7% somewhat disappointed, and 8.8% very disappointed. Most (91.9%) of the children felt that their operations had accomplished what they expected. However, 35.7% of cleft lip patients and 43.9% of their parents were less than very pleased with the appearance of the lip.
With regards to speech, 69.1% of patients were very pleased with the way they spoke. However, 19.1% rated themselves as only ‘moderately understandable’, while 8.5% rated themselves as ‘not understandable’.
No significant differences could be found between the sexes in terms of their satisfaction ratings, while this result was repeated between parents and children.
Parent and child ratings of satisfaction with appearance and speech.
[Summary]2
This study examined satisfaction levels with facial appearance and speech performance among 495 parent-child pairs. The study was carried out by the Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolins, Chapel Hill, and reported in 1992. The age span of the children included in the study was 5 to 18 years old.
Results indicated that 54% of children with cleft lip or cleft lip and palate were very pleased with their appearance, while 62% of children with cleft palate or cleft lip and palate were equally pleased with their speech performance.
Parents of females expressed more concern about their daughters’ appearance than parents of males, while parents of males were more concerned about speech performance.
- Strauss, R.P., Broder, H., Helms, R.W. (1988). Perceptions of appearance and speech by adolescent patients with cleft lip and palate and by their parents. Cleft Palate Journal, Oct, 25(4):335-42 [↩]
- Broder, H. L., Smith, F. B., Strauss, R. P. (1992). Habilitation of patients with clefts: parent and child ratings of satisfaction with appearance and speech. Cleft Palate Craniofacial Journal, May, 29(3):262-7 [↩]
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