OBJECTIVETo investigate the quality of life of cleft lip and/or palate children's parents and discuss the factors to provide the oretical basis for improving the quality of life of these parents and promoting the healthy growth of children with cleft lip and/or palate.

METHODSA total of 115 parents whose children had cleft lip and/or palate surgery treatment were selected as the experiment group, and another 198 parents (with healthy children having a similar age with those in the experiment group) as the control group. The experiment group was divided into three subgroups according to different types of cleft lip and/or palate: cleft Lip (CL), cleft palate (CP), cleft lip and palate (CLP). The experiment group and the control group were both divided into four subgroups according to age: 0-1, 1-3, 3-6 years old, and more than 6 years old. The experiment group and the control group were both divided into three subgroups according to education: junior middle school and the following, high school and technical secondary school, junior college degree or above. The GQOLI-74 scale was selected to assess the experiment group and the control group. SPSS 16.0 software was used to analyze data.

RESULTS1) The experiment group had no significant difference with the control group in terms of the overall score and the scores of various children ages. 2) The scores of every item had no significant difference in CL, CP, CLP subgroup (P > 0.05). 3) The quality of life scores and scores of psychological function dimension and social function dimension of parents with 3-6 years old patients were obviously lower than those of parents with more than 6 years old patients (P<0.05). The scores of social function dimension of parents with 0-1, 1-3, 3-6 years old patients were obviously lower than those of parents with more than 6 years old patients (P < 0.05). The other items had no significant difference. 4) The scores of material life dimension and social function dimension of parents with junior college degree or above were higher than those of parents with junior middle school degree and the following (P < 0.05). The scores of social function dimension of parents with high school and technical secondary school degree were higher than those of parents with junior middle school degree and the following (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONNo difference was observed in the quality of life between cleft lip and/or palate children's parents and normal group. The parents with the low age children with cleft lip and/or palate and low-levels of education need more help and support to improve quality of life.