Evaluation of depression, anxiety, and stress status in parents of patient with congenital clubfoot treated with Ponseti method: A prospective study

Congenital diseases have been reported to increase the incidence of depression, anxiety, and stress among parents. In this study, we aimed to investigate the depression, anxiety, and stress status in parents of patients with congenital clubfoot before and after treatment with the Ponseti method. A total of 20 patients diagnosed with congenital clubfoot at our clinic and treated with the Ponseti method were included in this study. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) was used to evaluate the depression, anxiety, and stress status of the parents before and after treatment. We considered the following parameters to investigate the effects of these on the parents: the educational level of the parents; economic status of the family; gender; birth order of the child in the family; time of diagnosis (prenatal or postnatal). The mean DASS and subdomain scores after treatment were significantly lower than those before treatment (P < .05). Moreover, there was a significant difference in the pre- and posttreatment mean DASS and depression scores of the participants in terms of the education level (P < .05). The pre- and posttreatment DASS and depression scores of the participants with an education level of primary school and below were lower than those of the participants with an education level of secondary and high school. Parents may be less concerned during this process if they are fully informed by the orthopedic surgeons about the treatment protocol and the near-perfect results of the Ponseti method as well as are counseled by healthcare professionals.