Impact on parents and family reported by parents: based on child health questionnaire
| All ELGA teenagers (n=174) | ELGA teenagers in special schools (n=29) | ELGA teenagers in mainstream school (n=145) | Control group (n=100) | p Value for difference between mainstream ELGA and controls | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Values are numbers (percentages) unless stated otherwise Note: Responses to some questions were occasionally missing. Percentages are based on the number of valid responses. | |||||
| *Difference in means −4.1 (−7.4 to −0.8). | |||||
| †Difference in means −4.6 (−9.2 to −0.05). | |||||
| ‡Difference in means −7.0 (−12.4 to −1.6). | |||||
| ELGA, Extremely low gestational age. | |||||
| Time for parent’s own personal needs limited by: | |||||
| teenager’s physical health | |||||
| A lot or quite a bit | 17 (10) | 10 (37) | 7 (5) | 1 (1) | 0.28 |
| Slightly | 11 (6) | 5 (19) | 6 (4) | 4 (4) | |
| Not at all | 144 (84) | 12 (44) | 132 (91) | 95 (95) | |
| teenager’s emotional wellbeing | |||||
| A lot or quite a bit | 26 (15) | 13 (46) | 13 (9) | 2 (2) | 0.079 |
| Slightly | 22 (13) | 9 (32) | 13 (9) | 11 (11) | |
| Not at all | 125 (72) | 6 (12) | 119 (82) | 86 (87) | |
| teenager’s attention/learning problems | |||||
| A lot or quite a bit | 22 (13) | 15 (56) | 7 (5) | 0 | 0.076 |
| Slightly | 18 (10) | 10 (37) | 8 (6) | 4 (4) | |
| Not at all | 132 (77) | 2 (7) | 130 (90) | 95 (96) | |
| Overall time impact on parent, mean (SD)* | 86.2 (25.6) | 51.0 (32.9) | 93.0 (17.2) | 97.1 ( 9.1) | 0.016 |
| Teenager’s health or behaviour has: | |||||
| limited family activities | |||||
| Fairly or very often | 25 (14) | 13 (45) | 12 (8) | 1 (1) | 0.048 |
| Sometimes | 21 (12) | 9 (31) | 12 (8) | 9 (9) | |
| Never or nearly never | 128 (74) | 7 (24) | 121 (83) | 89 (90) | |
| interrupted everyday family activities | |||||
| Fairly or very often | 19 (11) | 11 (38) | 8 (6) | 3 (3) | 0.036 |
| Sometimes | 23 (13) | 7 (24) | 16 (11) | 3 (3) | |
| Never or nearly never | 132 (76) | 11 (38) | 121 (83) | 94 (94) | |
| been a source of tension or conflict | |||||
| Fairly or very often | 28 (16) | 10 (34) | 18 (12) | 4 (4) | 0.082 |
| Sometimes | 42 (24) | 11 (38) | 31 (21) | 22 (22) | |
| Never or nearly never | 104 (60) | 8 (28) | 96 (66) | 74 (74) | |
| brought you closer as a family | |||||
| Fairly or very often | 35 (21) | 14 (52) | 21 (15) | 21 (21) | 0.25 |
| Sometimes | 44 (26) | 9 (33) | 35 (24) | 28 (28) | |
| Never or nearly never | 91 (53) | 4 (15) | 87 (61) | 50 (51) | |
| caused change of plans | |||||
| Fairly or very often | 16 (9) | 9 (32) | 7 (5) | 1 (1) | 0.13 |
| Sometimes | 28 (16) | 12 (43) | 16 (11) | 7 (7) | |
| Never or nearly never | 129 (75) | 7 (25) | 122 (84) | 92 (92) | |
| Overall family activities, mean (SD)† | 78.6 (28.6) | 43.9 (30.3) | 85.6 (22.6) | 90.2 (14.3) | 0.052 |
| Family “ability to get along” | |||||
| Excellent or very good | 101 (58) | 15 (52) | 86 (59) | 66 (66) | 0.004 |
| Good | 42 (24) | 11 (38) | 31 (21) | 30 (30) | |
| Fair or poor | 31 (18) | 3 (10) | 28 (19) | 4 (4) | |
| Family cohesion, mean (SD)‡ | 71.4 (24.9) | 72.4 (21.1) | 71.2 (25.7) | 78.2 (17.5) | 0.012 |