Cystic fibrosis: psychological assessment of preschool children atended at the Unit of the “Virgen del Rocío” Infants University Hospital in Seville.

Abstract

In this paper, psychological assessment allows us to observe the difficulties generated by the development of an illness - cystic fibrosis - in a life that is just starting. During the development of this investigation, the number of children aged between 0 and 6 years old was 17 within the Cystic Fibrosis Unit. For their assessment we have used the following three instruments: a Preliminar Questionnaire about Psychosocial Aspects related to Cystic Fibrosis, the Deve- lopmental Observational Scale (Secadas, 1993), and the General Diagnostic Informative Scale (Capafons, Sosa y Silva, 1993). The results from the first instrument emphasize the treatment intensity, (its quality and quantity), to which animportant numberof children reacts crying. Concerning the second instrument, the affective reaction is the developmental area that shows lower levels in the middle percentage obtained in the sample, although within levels of normality. Finally, the results of the General Diagnostic Informative Scale points to disperse signs of developmental delays, for example, in sphincter-control and self-help.