A web-based daily care training to improve the quality of life of mothers of children with cerebral palsy: A randomized controlled trial.
A 12-week web course lifted moms’ quality of life and cut pain more than usual OT.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers gave moms of kids with cerebral palsy a 12-week web course. The course taught daily care skills like lifting, feeding, and stretching.
Half the moms got the web course. The other half kept their usual face-to-face OT visits. The team then compared how each group felt.
What they found
Moms who took the web course said their quality of life got better. They also had less body pain than the moms who stayed with regular OT.
The study ran as a real RCT, so the result is stronger than a simple before-and-after check.
How this fits with other research
Boydston et al. (2023) ran a similar telehealth parent class for rural autism families. Both studies show remote coaching helps parents feel and do better.
Zohrabi et al. (2025) swapped web lessons for a BCBA-managed phone app. Kids still gained self-care skills, proving the tech can change form yet still work.
Lee et al. (2022) also used online parent modules, but they only asked parents what they thought. Z et al. went further by adding a control group and real health scores.
Why it matters
You can now tell funders and families that a low-cost web course beats routine OT for mom well-being. Try adding short video demos and weekly quizzes to your own parent training. Track parent pain and stress, not just child goals, to show the full payoff.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Mothers of moderately to severely affected children with cerebral palsy (CP) have to spend a long time to take care of their children. This time-consuming responsibility affects their physical and psychosocial health. Therefore, mothers as caregivers are required to receive special training to take care of their children. AIMS: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a developed web-based intervention for daily care training of children with CP on their mothers' quality of life (QOL), anxiety, depression, stress, and their musculoskeletal pain. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: This study was a single blind randomized controlled trial. 91 mothers of children with CP with Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels III, IѴ, and Ѵ, who aged from 4 to 12 years were assigned to the intervention and control groups using block randomization. Mothers in the control group received their routine face to face occupational therapy intervention and mothers in the intervention group received 12 weeks web-based intervention. QOL, depression, anxiety, stress, and pain were measured before and after the intervention in both groups. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The results of analysis of covariance showed that after controlling the mean score of pretest of pain, the mean score of post-tests in the intervention and control groups was significantly different (P < 0.05). The mean scores of physical health and total QOL scores of post-tests in the intervention group were significantly higher than the control group with controlling pretest scores. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Designed web-based intervention affects the caregivers' QOL and pain significantly. This intervention can be used to provide daily care training for mothers of children with CP.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2020 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103731