Investigation of foot-ankle orthosis usage expectations of families of children with cerebral palsy in Şanliurfa, Hasan Kalyoncu university, graduate education institute, department of physiotherapy and rehabilitation

This study was carried out to examine the expectations of families of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) living in Şanlıurfa, who use foot-ankle orthosis (AFO). The parents and physiotherapists of 120 children with CP, aged between 3-18 years, living in Şanlıurfa, treated in different special education and rehabilitation centers, and using AFO were included. In our study, "Physiotherapist Inquiry Form" was used for physiotherapists and "Parent Inquiry Form" was used for parents. While the questionnaire applied to the physiotherapists included questions about the treatment of the patient and the use of orthoses and orthoses, the parent inquiry form included questions such as the socioeconomic status of the parents, their knowledge level about orthotics and rehabilitation, their expectations from the orthosis, the habits of using the orthosis, and the family's satisfaction with the orthosis. . When the socio-demographic characteristics of the parents were questioned, it was determined that they were mostly primary school graduates, their monthly income was below 5000 TL, they mostly resided in the city and they had social security at the rate of 55%. It was determined that children with CP used walking orthosis the most, followed by night orthosis. It was found that the duration of use of the night AFO was longer. A statistically significant difference was found between the duration of children's use of night and walking AFOs (p<0.05), and night and walking AFOs were similar in terms of whether they used it regularly or not (p>0.05). As a result of the study; It was concluded that physiotherapists have a great role in increasing the knowledge of parents about CP disease, treatment and rehabilitation process, and orthosis use. Family and rehabilitation centers should be in harmony in order to minimize the problems that children experience while using their orthoses.