Aspects of living conditions among groups of disabled children and their families in Norway: family situation, mothers' health, financial assistance.

A survey of 875 disabled children in Norway aged 0-19, representing ten different disabling conditions, was carried out between January 1976 and December 1978. Parents of the disabled children were interviewed, medical records studied and the children examined. Mother's age, level of education, presence of disabled siblings, spouse's education and profession as well as emergency situations related to the disabled child's condition appeared to be factors influencing the mother's health and therefore inevitably the family's ability to cope with the situation. Social insurance seemed to have been granted in a rather haphazard way; only families of children suffering from hemophilia, mental retardation, spina bifida and cerebral palsy seemed to have received fairly adequate social insurance benefits. Families of children suffering from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, congenital heart disease and epilepsy had received less social insurance assistance than those in the other groups. One-parent families had received more social insurance than others. Families with children who were totally dependent on their parents, who had several diagnoses or had spent much time in hospital, had also been granted more social insurance. Welfare benefits distributed by local authorities had mainly been given to families who were also receiving social insurance benefits and to families of children with brain damage. Almost half of all families expressed needs for welfare benefits which had not been met. Thus, there seemed to be an underconsumption of both social insurance and welfare benefits, particularly among some diagnostic groups.