PARENTS AND PEDIATRICIANS VIEWS OF INDIVIDUALS WITH MENINGOMYELOCELE

The parents of 63 individuals with meningomyelocele completed a scale examining the effects of their child's disability on their family, Eig hty-six pediatricians also completed the scale as they predicted paren ts would respond, Medical and psychosocial data were also obtained, Th e results showed the following: (1) A higher level. lesion was associa ted with parental reports of a more negative impact on the family (p<. 05), and (2) pediatricians predicted a more negative impact than was r eported by the parents (p<.001). We conclude that pediatricians overes timate the negative effects while also underestimating the positive ef fects of the disability on the family.