The Self‐concept of Young People ‘ With Spina Bifida: A Population‐based Study

Abstract

SUMMARY Seventy‐nine young people with spina bifida were given a psychological, medical, carer and occupational therapy assessment. 79 matched able‐bodied young people received the psychosocial interview. The disabled group felt themselves to be less competent in academic, athletic and social aspects of self‐concept, less supported by classmates, equally supported by parents and friends and more supported by teachers than the able‐bodied group. Disabled subjects did not discount the importance of any area of personal‐social functioning, and experienced greater discrepancies between competence and importance in most academic, athletic, social and physical appearance aspects of self‐concept. Disabled girls assigned very high importance to physical appearance. Physical appearance was more strongly associated with general self‐esteem than any other area of self‐concept. RÉSUMÉ L'appréciation de soi de jeunes spina bifida: une étude de population Une entrevue concernant les aspects psychologiques, médicaux de prise en charge de soins et de rééducation a été proposée à 79 jeunes spina bifida. La même entrevue psychosocial fut proposée à 79 jeunes sujets valides appariés. Les membres du groupe avec incapacités, se sentaient moins compétents dans une auto‐évaluation sur les aspects scolaires, athlétiques et sociaux, moins aidés par leurs camarades de classes, également aidés par leurs parents et amis, et mieux aidés par leurs professeurs que les jeunes du groupe de valides. Les sujets avec incapacités en minimisaient ľimportance ďaucun aspect de ľactivité individuelle et sociale, et faisaient une plus grande distinction entre compétence et importance dans la plupart des aspects ďauto‐évaluation sur les do‐maines scolaires, sportifs, sociaux et ďapparence physique. Les filles avec incapacités attribuaient une très grande importe àľapparence physique. ľapparence physique était plus fortement associée avec ľestime de soi générate qu'à n'import quelle autre aspect ďauto‐évaluation. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Die Selbsteinschätzung junger Leute mit Spina bifida: eine Populationsstudic 79 junge Leute mit Spina bifida wurden anhand von Interviews bezuglich ihrer psychologischen, medizinschen, pflegerischen und beschäftigungsthcrapeutischen Situation befragt. 79 gesunde Kontrollen wurden mit einem psychosozialen Interview untersucht. Die behinderten Probanden fühlten sich in akademischen, sportlichen und sozialen Bereichen weniger kompetent, durch Klassenkameraden weniger, durch Eltern und Freunde gleich und durch Lehrer mehr unterstützt als die gesunden Kindern. Die behinderten Patienten waren sich der Bedeutung der ailgemeinen psychosozialen Eingliederung bewußt und machten die Erfahrung größerer Diskrepanzen zwischen ihren Fähigkeiten und der Bedeutung, die sie den meisten akademischen, sportlichen, sozialen und körperlichen Erscheinungsbildern in ihver Selbsteinschätzung zuschricben. Behinderte Mädchen legten sehr grossen Wert auf die körperliche Erscheinung. Umgekehrt war die körperliche Erscheinung stärker mit dem ailgemeinen Selbst...

Self‐concept of children with cerebral palsy compared with that of children without impairment

“…Lower Scholastic Competence has previously been reported in some groups of children with CP 10 and children with spina bifida. 17,20,[24][25][26] Although self-perception remained positive overall, males and younger children with CP had a lower selfconcept in Scholastic Competence than their peers without impairment. As CP results from an insult to the developing brain, it is possible that certain aspects of cognition, communication, and perception may be affected, which might compromise a child's learning abilities.…”

Self-reported quality of life of 8–12-year-old children with cerebral palsy: a cross-sectional European study

“…A recent systematic review 8 of self-concept in children with cerebral palsy covered six of the KIDSCREEN domains but included only six suitable studies, the largest of which assessed only 64 children; there was insuffi cient evidence to establish whether self-concept was lower in the disabled children than in those without cerebral palsy. Studies of children with spina bifi da, 40 rheumatoid arthritis, 7 physical impairments, 6,13,41 and behaviour and learning diffi culties 10 provide confl icting evidence about how the QoL of these children compares with that of the general population. It is diffi cult to compare these studies with each other or with our study because of the small numbers, 6,7,40,41 non-representative samples, 6,7,10,41 and diff erent age ranges.…”

“…Studies of children with spina bifi da, 40 rheumatoid arthritis, 7 physical impairments, 6,13,41 and behaviour and learning diffi culties 10 provide confl icting evidence about how the QoL of these children compares with that of the general population. It is diffi cult to compare these studies with each other or with our study because of the small numbers, 6,7,40,41 non-representative samples, 6,7,10,41 and diff erent age ranges. 6,7,10,13,40,41 The lack of association between pain and impairments in our study could be because we excluded children who could not self-report, reducing statistical power in the group of children with severe intellectual impairment who are more likely to have severe motor and other impairments.…”

Trajectories of autonomy development across the adolescent transition in children with spina bifida.

“…Although friends were viewed as important, adolescents with spina bifida reported a low level of contact with peers outside of school. As with other populations of children with chronic illness, children with spina bifida have been found to be at increased risk for psychosocial adjustment problems (Appleton et al, 1994(Appleton et al, , 1997.…”