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Do Educational Interventions with Mothers Enhance the Quality of Life of their Children with Chronic Functional Constipation in a Randomized Trial?

Gabriela Cunha Schechtman Sette, Ana Márcia Tenório de Souza Cavalcanti, Maria Wanderleya de Lavor Coriolano, Gisélia Alves Pontes da Silva, Maria Eugênia Farias Almeida Motta and Luciane Soares de Lima

Aim: To analyse the effect on the quality of life of children with chronic functional constipation when performing educational intervention on mothers, using the technique of focus groups, in a prospective randomized trial.

Method: This study was conducted on the paediatric gastroenterology clinic of the teaching hospital of the Federal University of Pernambuco, from November 2012 to May 2013. A prospective study of educational intervention in health was applied on two randomized groups (experimental and control) that was formed from a sample of 55 participants according to the Rome III criteria. Mothers from the experimental group participated of a focus group that used active methods of teaching and learning in order to elucidate the biopsychosocial issues surrounding constipation. Children from both groups kept the usual treatment held by the paediatric gastroenterologist during the monthly medical visits. In order to measure the primary outcome - quality of life - the questionnaire PedsQLTM 4.0 Generic Core Scales was applied to both groups before and after the intervention. The data related to clinical parameters and quality of life of participants before and after the intervention were analytically compared in both groups with the significance level p ≤ 0.05.

Results: This study included 55 mothers of children and adolescents with disorders of defecation, 11 in the educational intervention group and 44 in the control group. After monitoring the mothers that participated in focus groups for six months, the outcome quality of life was represented by a total score of 89.13, whilst the total score before the intervention was 78,26 (p=0,00).

Conclusion: The quality of life of patients with functional constipation improved after the intervention. Therefore, the educational intervention on focus groups with mothers configure a therapeutic alternative to patients and families living with defecation disorders.