Social and religious attitudes of Jordanian parents toward children born with orofacial clefts

Background and goals: Parental attitudes towards orofacial clefts (OFC) can be influenced by culture. Interestingly, there are no studies up to date examined parental attitudes towards these congenital anomalies in Jordan. The objectives of this study were to 1) explore the social and religious attitudes of Jordanian parents toward their children born with OFCs, and 2) determine the predictors of social and religious beliefs and behaviors. Methods and settings: A descriptive study conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital. Hundred and fifty-three parents participated in the study. All the participants completed the questionnaire were the biological either father or mother; (61) and (92) respectively. The patients with OFC were 95 males and 58 females ranged in age from 0.1 to 20 years (M = 8.2 years, SD = 6.4). The prevalence of OFC was characterized by 40 CL, 24 CP and 89 CLP. Patients' gender and age, residence, other family incidences, and receiving health education about the cleft were the independent variables used in the binary regression to predict the social and religious beliefs. Results: The majority of the parental responses denied any social negativity in regard to the ability of their children to establish friendships, being hidden from the public, facing social difficulties. However, substantial parental concerns were found in regard to teasing and bullying (102 = 76.8%; p < 0.0001). No negative religious beliefs were observed. None of the independent variables showed significant relationships with the social beliefs except for "receiving health education about the cleft" which predicted the possibility of encountering "social difficulties" (B = 2.9; CI 3.2-100.5; p < 0.001; OR = 18.1). Regression model showed that parent with no education tended to hide the child (2.0%; St. Res = 3.4). Difficulty making friends was related to cleft lip type (Chi(2) = 6.05; p < 0.05). Believing the deformity is because of an evil spirit" was related to cleft lip type (Chi(2) = 6.6; p < 0.04). Conclusions: Irrespective to particular negative viewpoints observed among the parents towards OFCs, the majority of families tend to have positive social and religious beliefs. These affirmative constructs towards the cleft deformity may reflect positively on the provision of health care services. The establishment of an in depth family counseling and health education routine programs concerning the attributes of OFCs at a wider scale to maintain the integrity of parents' beliefs of the OFC deformity may be warranted.