Needs and Experience of Families with Child Suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy - Current Situation and Challenges for Social and Health Care System in Czech Republic

Situation of families in which a child with spinal muscular atrophy was born, is the topic of this thesis. This rare genetic disease affects neuromuscular system of children and shortens their lives. In most severe cases the failure of respiratory functions comes in the first year of child's life. This thesis is focused on support that Czech system of social and medical services provides to families with this disease. Next, it looks into needs of these families and examine the extent to which the system is able to saturate them. Very important point in this research is also families' perception of quality of care. The research was implemented with use of qualitative methods, mostly by semi-structured interviews which followed families' journey through the system of social and medical services. Then there is a comparison of experience of families with theories, policy and other normative framework and suggestion of steps that should be taken to improve families' satisfaction with services they receive concerning the child's disease. Key words: spinal muscular atrophy, rare diseases, patient's autonomy, patient- centered care, patient journey, quality of care