Patients’ and Parents’ Perceptions of Appearance in Scoliosis Treated with a Brace: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Abstract

The perspective of trunk deformity is a matter of special concern for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients. No research group has ever reported interviewing patients and their parents regarding differences in perception of body appearance in the course of Cheneau brace treatment. We aimed to investigate the level of agreement in the field of concerns and perceptions of spinal appearance in relation to brace- and scoliosis-related data between parents and female patients with AIS, treated with a Cheneau brace, by means of the Spinal Appearance Questionnaire-pl (SAQ-pl). In this cross-sectional study forty-one pairs of parents and female patients with AIS were asked to separately complete the Polish versions of the Spinal Appearance Questionnaire-pl patient form (SAQ-pl patient form) and the SAQ-pl parent form. Age of patients was 13.60 years SD 1.60 (range 10–17). Patients scored 2.70 (SD 0.60) and parents scored 2.70 SD 0.60 in the total score of the SAQ-pl. The study groups do not differ significantly in regards to the SAQ-pl results. The percentage of consistent answers on SAQ-pl items ranges from 34.10 % (item 20) to 78 % (item 8). Height, age and brace-wearing time per day, were significantly related to the differences in the patient-parent General perception of body shape (rs = −0.51, rs = −0.34, rs = 0.36, respectively). Parents and female patients with AIS have similar concerns and perceptions of spinal appearance. The discrepancies in General perception of spinal appearance between parents and AIS females decrease with age of patient. Parental emotional support may contribute to minimizing the risk factors of psychological impairment, especially in late adolescents with AIS.

Prediction of height increment using preoperative radiological parameters following selective thoracic fusion with alternate-level pedicle screw construct in Lenke 1 and 2 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients

“…1 One of the main concerns of parents and patients is the effect of spinal fusion on the height of the patients. [2][3][4][5] Although it is known that scoliosis correction surgery will result in the lengthening of the spinal column height, there is little evidence available to quantitatively predict the amount of height gain post-operatively. Several formulas have been proposed by various authors to determine the increase in height after scoliosis correction.…”

APSS-ASJ Best Clinical Research Award: Is There a Difference between Patients’ and Parents’ Perception of Physical Appearance in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis?

“…In addition to patients’ perceptions of their PAs, studies have been conducted on parents’ perceptions and expectations about their children’s body image [6,15,22-24]. Failure to address the parents’ concern will often lead to dissatisfied patients and dissatisfied parents following management of AIS.…”

“…Scoliosis is a three-dimensional deformity of the spine that results in rib hump (RH), waist asymmetry (WA), and shoulder asymmetry (SA), as well as breast asymmetry (BrA) in females [1-3]. These abnormal physical attributes (PAs) affect general life and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients [4-6]. Many studies have reported that untreated AIS patients have lower self-esteem, poor self-image, and reduced participation in social life [7-11].…”

Experiências traumáticas na doença crónica: Relatos de adolescentes com escoliose e diabetes

“…Num plano relacional, estando a construção da imagem corporal também dependente de um processo de influências diretas e indiretas provenientes das relações que o adolescente estabelece com os outros, família ou pares, é de destacar que o apoio emocional parental tende a diminuir o impacto dos fatores de risco da vivência da adolescência com escoliose (Misterska, Glowacki, Adamczyk, & Jankowski, 2014). Por outro lado, estudos mais recentes sobre a personalidade dos indivíduos com escoliose, revelam que estes adolescentes tendem a desenvolver um traço de personalidade introvertido marcado por um comportamento de inibição social, que se traduz na preferência em estar sozinho e sinais de auto-suficiência (D'Agata et al, 2017), comprometendo a sua integração no grupo.…”