The quality of life, situations and emerging concerns of parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders in Philippine Children's Medical Center during COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND@#COVID-19 resulted in a public health emergency and quarantine measures which may negatively impact vulnerable populations.@*OBJECTIVES@#This study intends to determine the quality of life, situations and emerging concerns of parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders during the ongoing pandemic. @*METHODOLOGY@#A cross-sectional survey using a socio-demographic questionnaire, situations and emerging concerns during the coronavirus pandemic and WHOQOL-BREF (Filipino version) for parental quality of life was documented via Google Forms. Parents of patients aged 2-18 years seen at the PCMC Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics OPD during July to December 2019 were recruited.@*RESULTS@#Data from 115 respondents showed a lower score in the environmental domain. Child characteristics comparable with QoL scores include sex, severity of ID and ADHD while parent characteristics comparable with the QoL scores include educational attainment, monthly family income, father’s employment status and family structure (P-value <0.05). Most respondents reported situations of physical distancing (82.61%) and curfew (80.87%). Inability to access essential services (43.48-74.48%) were further compounded by limited financial resources (51.30%) and public transport (60%). Government policy received included quarantine pass (90.43%), food allowance or relief package (86.09%), disinfection (60.87%), DSWD-SAP (42.61%) and cash distribution (41.74%).@*RECOMMENDATIONS@#Programs and policies should be planned accordingly to provide improvement of quality of life to parents and their child with neurodevelopmental disorder.