Author(s)

Vasiliki Kontou¹, Garyfalia Charitaki², Spyridon-Georgios Soulis³

¹Cass School of Education, AKMI Metropolitan College in Collaboration with University of East London, Athens, Greece.
²Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece.
³Department of Primary Education, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.

Purpose: The basic aim of this research was to evaluate the Sense of Coherence (SOC) in people with Cerebral Palsy in Greece. Also, the correlation of SOC with their Quality of Life was investigated. Method: For the purposes of the research, a mixed methodological approach was chosen. The Sense of Coherence (SOC) was administered to 37 people with Cerebral Palsy. Semi-structured interviews at Special Educators were also conducted and observation of the participants was carried out in order to collect sufficient data both for their Sense of Coherence and Quality of Life. Results: The results depict high scores of sense of coherence in people with cerebral palsy, which is in significant correlation to their quality of life. It appeared that there was no statistically significant difference between them (Ζ = -0.736, p-value = 0.462) and the significance level was determined at a = 5%. Also, there was no statistically significant differentiation in SOC-score between people with different types of cerebral palsy (F = 0.258, p-value = 0.933), with the significance level at 5%. Conclusion: As a conclusion, people with Cerebral Palsy are satisfied with their everyday life. They can control their feelings and they can cope with unknown situations. They experience pleasant feelings and do not easily experience the emotion of disappointment.

Cerebral Palsy, Sense of Coherence, Quality of Life, Intellectual Disability

Kontou, V. , Charitaki, G. and Soulis, S. (2018) Sense of Coherence in People with Cerebral Palsy in Greece. Psychology, 9, 608-622. doi: 10.4236/psych.2018.94038.