Page 152 - FINAL COMPENDIUM 2020-2021 27.2.2022

COMPARISON BETWEEN PATIENTS’ AND PARENTS’ SATISFACTION LEVEL TOWARDS
CLEFT MANAGEMENT USING CLEFT EVALUATION PROFILE
NMRR-15-2497-28426

Lau KL, Ong SC

Introduction: Cleft lip and palate (CLP) are common birth defects that occur in
approximately 1 out of every 611 new-borns in Malaysia. Cleft Evaluation Profile (CEP) is
a well-established method used to evaluate the patient’s level of satisfaction with the CLP
treatment that they received. Objective: To compare the level of satisfaction of cleft
patients and their parents towards cleft management in Kelantan, Malaysia. Materials
and methods: This observational research study involved CLP patients and their parents
who visited the Orthodontic Unit in the Combined Cleft Clinic (CCC), Kota Bharu, Kelantan
from January 2017 to September 2017. Under a confidence level of 95%, with study power
set to 80%, and alpha value of 5%, a sample size of 27 patient-parent pairs was needed
for this study. By considering the 10% drop out cases, the final sample size of this study
was 30 patient-parent pairs. Subjects with craniofacial syndrome, hearing or neurological
impairment, and intellectual disabilities as well as subjects who were unable to answer
the questionnaire were excluded from the study. The cleft patients in this study are still
undergoing treatment and review appointments. 100% response rate was attained.
Results: The age range for patients was 17 to 25 years, whilst for parents was 18 to 65
years. The mean age of patients and parents was 17.2 and 39.8, respectively. The results
showed that the mean scores of CEP for the parents were between 2.04 and 3.00, whilst
the patient’s mean score ranged from 2.01 to 3.04. In general, nose is the most dissatisfied
feature for both patients and parents with the mean score of 3.04 for patients and 3.00
for parents. Teeth was the second highest (2.97) mean scores rated by parents but it was
the third highest (2.84) mean score from the patients. Lip feature scored the third highest
mean score for parents, and it was the second-highest mean score for patients. Hearing
was the lowest mean score for both parents and patients. Both parties were aware of the
features of their facial and nose appearance. From the weighted Kappa statistic, both the
parent and patient pairs demonstrated good to very good agreement for their satisfaction
towards the clinical outcome. Conclusion: In conclusion, features related to facial
appearance (nose, teeth, lip and facial profiles) require more attention and improvement
during the treatment process.

Keywords: Cleft lip and/ or palate (CLP), Level of satisfaction, Cleft Evaluation Profile (CEP)

Published in IIUM Journal of Orofacial and Health Sciences (IJOHS) (2021) 2(1): 37-45 on 28 February 2021
Poster presentation at the National Oral Health Research Conference 2019 at Eastin Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on 24-25 April
2019
Dr Lau Kim Lian
Dr Ong Siang Ching
Orthodontic Unit
Kota Bharu Dental Clinic
Kelantan

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