Determination of Psychological Status of Mothers with Disabled Children

Aim: This study has been conducted for determination of psychological status of mothers with disabled (mental, physical, hearing) children.

Method: Sampling of this descriptive cross sectional study comprised of 154 mothers who took their children to two different private education centers in Erzincan province who were volunteers and could be communicated with. Data were collected by face to face interview method using a questionnaire that contained the descriptive characteristics of the children and their mothers and the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R).

Results: Mean age of mothers was 39.29±8.80 and mean age of children was 12.15±7.05. The children were attending these education and rehabilitation centers for the reason of 61.7% had mental retardation, 18.2% had cerebral palsy, 10.4% had hearing problems, 7.1% had Down Syndrome, and 2.6% had autism. Global Symptom Index (GSI) mean score for mothers was found as 2.12±0.49; depression (2.71), anger/hostility (2.21), paranoid ideation and psychoticism (2.18), anxiety (2.06), phobic anxiety (2.0), additional items (1.99) and interpersonal sensitivity (1.71).

Conclusion: The present study has established that mothers reveal global psychological symptoms (especially depression, anger/ hostility, paranoid thought, and psychoticism. In conclusion, it is recommended that parents, especially mothers, should be provided with family-oriented support programs by health care professionals so that they can cope with the problems they experience.