The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Indus Hospital, Karachi from October 2013 to March 2014. A trained researcher interviewed the person primarily responsible for bracing the child using a pre-coded questionnaire. Modified Orthotics Prosthetics User Survey for satisfaction with either the Mitchell
brace of the Steenbeek
brace was used. It included 11 questions in the Parent Bracing Satisfaction Survey. SPSS 21 was used for statistical analysis.
RESULTS: Interviews were completed with 110 primary caregivers among whom 90(81.8%) were mothers. Overall, 32(29.1%) children were using the Mitchell
brace, 30(27.3%) the Steenbeek
brace, 46(41.8%) had shifted from Mitchell to Steenbeek
brace, and 2(1.8%) had shifted from Steenbeek to Mitchell
brace. Median duration of current
brace usage was 4 and 3.5 months for Steenbeek and Mitchell
braces respectively. The mean age of the child was 1.4 ±0.7 years, and the mean of 4-point Likerts cale score of parent bracing satisfaction was 28.7±2.2 in children on the Mitchell
brace versus 28.5±1.9 for those on Steenbeek
brace (p=0.505). Overall, 82(74.5%) parents had favourable attitude towards
braces in general, but there were no significant differences in the items except "
brace is easy to put on" (p=0.040) and "durability between Mitchell and Steenbeek groups" (p=0.017).
CONCLUSIONS: