Introduction: The present study aimed to compare motivation in school-age children with CP and typically developing children.
Material and methods: 229 parents of children with cerebral palsy and 212 parents of typically developing children participated in the present cross sectional study and completed demographic and DMQ18 forms. The rest of information was measured by an occupational therapist. Average age was equal to 127.12±24.56 months for children with cerebral palsy (CP) and 128.08±15.90 for typically developing children. Independent t-test used to compare two groups; and Pearson correlation coefficient by SPSS software applied to study correlation with other factors.
Results: There were differences between DMQ subscales of CP and typically developing groups in terms of all subscales (P<0.05). The lowest motivation scores of subscales obtained in gross motor persistence (2.4870±.81047) and cognitive-oriented persistence (2.8529±.84223) in children with CP. Motivation was correlated with Gross Motor function Classification System (r= -0.831, P<0.001), Manual ability classification system (r=-0.782, P<0.001) and cognitive impairment (r=-0.161, P<0.05).
Conclusion: Children with CP had lower mastery motivation than typically developing children. Rehabilitation efforts should take to enhance motivation, so that children felt empowered to do tasks or practices.
Keywords: cerebral palsy; child; motivation.