Effects of cleft lip and palate on children's psychological health: A systematic review

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the psychological effects of cleft lip and palate (CLP) on children and their parents and to determine any relationship between social support and timing of surgical repairs for these defects. METHODS: A systematic review that followed the problem, intervention, comparison, outcome and setting (PICOS) method was used. The participants were children with CLP, interventions were surgical corrections and/or social support, comparison occurred with children with neither surgical corrections nor social support, outcomes were psychological effects and the study design was a systematic review. Four electronic databases, EBSCO, ProQuest, Science Direct, and PsycInfo were used to search for studies over the period of ten years (January 2007 until January 2017). The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2009 guidelines on systematic review reporting were used for this study. RESULTS: Searching through four databases revealed 53,346 articles; however, only 26 articles that met the inclusion criteria were included. There were few articles about children. CONCLUSIONS: CLP is not only connected to psychological effects which distress children's self-esteem and psychological functions, it also extends to their parents, particularly their mothers. However, parental and social support seem to have positive influences by reducing these psychological effects.