[Psychosocial development of children with physical disabilities. Experiences from a Nordic study of 527 children with myelomeningocele].

Data from a Nordic study on children with meningomyelocele (MMC), aged 4-18 years, are related to studies on the social and personal situation of children with physical disabilities. The data were collected in 1984 from medical records and by means of a postal questionnaire. In total 527 children with MMC and 7792 control children were included; the parents of the latter answered the same questionnaire as the former. As many as 80% of the children with MMC were integrated in ordinary school classes. However they had fewer friends and were less active outside home than children in general. Children with MMC need to develop autonomy and independence of their parents, especially with regard to their leisure activities and personal matters including personal hygiene. Concerning personal hygiene, independence could be developed for most of the children by systematic training, even among those who regularly use catheterisation. Both child and parents need support from multidisciplinary habilitation teams in order to develop the coping ability of the child. In school, along with assessment of the disabled child's learning ability, there is also a need to assess its personal and social functioning. According to studies by A. Antonovsky, people who experience their situation as comprehensible, manageable and meaningful are more healthy than others. It seems valuable to apply these three aspects to the way of thinking in work with habilitation.