Nursing Care of a Cerebral Palsy Child Patient According to Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory: A Case Report

Disability is a negative situation that prevents and limits the activities that are expected to be performed by an individual according to his/her age, gender, and social and cultural status as a result of a damage or disability. There are many diseases within the scope of disability and mental disability. One of these diseases is cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a non-progressive disorder of tone, force, motion, and posture due to damage to the central nervous system, which is determined in infancy. Orem’s self-care deficiency theory is a general theory that includes 3 separate nursing theories: self-care theory, self-care failure theory, and nursing systems theory. In addition, according to this theory, people have 3 types of self-care needs: universal self-care needs, self-care needs in deviations from health, and developmental self-care needs. In this case report, data of an 8-year-old boy patient who was followed up in the pediatric intensive care unit with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy were collected according to Orem’s self-care deficiency theory, and the attempts and applications were made according to this theory. The purpose of this case report is to apply nursing care to a child with cerebral palsy according to Orem’s self-care deficiency theory.