Abstract

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most commonly occurring physical disability in childhood. Poor adherence to physiotherapy appointments after discharged is one of the most problematic issue that makes the assessment of progress very difficult for children with CP in Kano state.The aim of the study is to find out the factors affecting adherence to physiotherapy appointment for caregivers of children with cerebral palsy in Kano metropolis.Method: The research method was a cross-sectional survey and 75 caregivers were recruited from Murtala Muhd Specialist hospital, Abdullahi Wase specialist hospital and Hasiya Bayero Pediatric hospital using purposive sampling technique,however,60 participants were eligibly enrolled into this research. Respondents were the principal caregivers of the children. Case notes and questionnaires were the major instruments used to obtained the data, however, verbal communication with the caregivers was done where necessary. Results: Socio-economic level was determined using Kuppuswamy scale. Descriptive statistics of means and standard deviation in form of percentages, tables and graphs was used to summarize the results. Inferential statistics of Chi-squares (at 5% level of significance), was employed to determine the associations between pairs of categorical variables in the study.Conclusion: According to the results of this study: level of education, marital status, knowledge of the condition and socioeconomic class of the caregivers were found to significantly affect the adherence (P-value <0.05), while age of the caregivers was found to have no significant association with their adherence to physiotherapy appointment.(P-value>0.05).

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