Stress, emotional support and coping behavior of mothers with disabled pre-school children--mothers at outpatient department.
This study focuses on overt and covert problems experienced by mothers with disabled pre-school children and the resources that are available for coping with them. The aim of this study is to facilitate the coping behaviors of these mothers in order to improve their life-styles and well-being. The scores of the Home Care Resources Inventory (HCRI) of mothers with disabled preschool children were compared with those of a control group of mothers with normal kindergarten-aged children. The results of the HCRI survey indicated the following: 1) The major source of strength for the mothers with disabled children was the availability of a social support network, which consisted mainly of their own mothers and grandmothers, 2) The mothers with disabled children had insufficient time and little respite for themselves, and 3) Emotional support from mothers who shared the same experiences was effective for coping with problems associated with the acceptance of disabled children. The support of health care professionals, however, had little effect in helping the mothers who were under stress, though they could help to change such mothers' attitudes. There was a possibility to facilitate mothers' coping skills if mothers with disabled children could get effective support at appropriate times. These results support the concept of empowerment (Rappaport 1984, Kieffer 1984). Further study is needed on ways to introduce this concept into nursing as well as to systematize procedures in routine nursing practice for releasing maternal behavior.
Oka
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S
Department of Nursing, Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences, Japan.
Ueda
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R
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010379:Peer Group; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires