Scribd
Upload
34 views6 pages

Chapter Five

This chapter discusses the findings of the study on psychological distress among parents of children with special needs. It was found that factors like education, financial status, knowledge of child's disability and lack of support were associated with increased psychological distress. The study also reported high levels of depression, stress and anxiety among such parents. Further research is needed to understand risk factors and design interventions to support parents' mental health.

Uploaded by

fnadhrahAs ss
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
34 views6 pages

Chapter Five

This chapter discusses the findings of the study on psychological distress among parents of children with special needs. It was found that factors like education, financial status, knowledge of child's disability and lack of support were associated with increased psychological distress. The study also reported high levels of depression, stress and anxiety among such parents. Further research is needed to understand risk factors and design interventions to support parents' mental health.

Uploaded by

fnadhrahAs ss
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

CHAPTER FIVE

DISCUSSION

5.1 Introduction

This chapter look into the summary of the findings with the conclusion of the
study. The conclusion presented in this chapter is obtained to meet the research questions
that were described in the previous chapter. Some recommendation is suggested at the
end of the study to make this research practical and beneficial.
5.2 Discussion of Results
On social demographic factors for the study participants, many more women than
men took part in this study. Gender is a known predictor for distress, however, it was not
significantly associated with psychological distress in this study. In this present study, the
majority of participants sampled were employed and married. Greater marital quality
predicted lower parenting stress for both mothers and fathers, while greater social support
predicted increased parenting efficacy for fathers (Kobayashi, Inagaki, & Kaga, 2012).
The relationship between development of a child’s disability and financial status is clear
and likely to be the case in the previous study. Another study indicates that finances were
a cause of concern for most of the families. Raising a child with mental retardation may
be more expensive affecting family's economic stability then raising a typical child.
These expenses can arise from medical equipment and supplies, medical caregiving
expenses, private education tutoring, adaptive learning equipment, or specialized
transports (Jamberkar et al., 2018).

It has been reported for those with better parent education, and those having
psychological support were associated with less psychological distress. Studies have
demonstrated that individuals with good socio-economic status and better parent
education are more likely to seek and receive better support both materially and
psychologically. One of the most concerning factors in previous study was that
knowledge of one’s child disability was associated with increased psychological distress.
This may be because parents who know about their child’s disability, focus more
thoughts and attention on their child’s disability and its impact rather than focusing on the
positive aspects of the child (Masulani-Mwale et al., 2018).
Review of literature indicated numerous national as well as international studies
indicating increased levels of stress due to various reasons among parents of children
with special needs. Previous study demonstrates that there are many undiagnosed and
unmanaged psychological issues among parents of children with intellectual disabilities.
It has been reported prevalence of psychological distress ranging from 32 to 89% among
parents of children with disabilities (Masulani-Mwale et al., 2018) . The study also found
that parents of children with developmental problems in comparison to parents of
children with psychological problems had more physical complaints and experienced
higher levels of depression. The depression level in both of these groups were higher than
parents of normal children, and lack of mental health, having signs of stress, depression,
or anxiety could disturb the accountability and effectiveness of the parenting style. It has
been reported that parents of children with ADHD and developmental problems show
higher levels of stress in comparison to parents of children suffering from HIV and
asthma and normal children (Feizi et al., 2014).

Among all the observed loads of parenting, parents believe that management of
their child's troubling behaviors is the most pressuring challenge. There is also an
emotional load related to being ashamed of their child's disability, being sorrowful to
confirm that their child can never experience a normal adolescence, and being worried
about who's going to take care of their child after their death. As a result of these kinds of
long-term chronic pressures on the parents of disabled children, parents of disabled
children experience more physical problems and higher levels of depression compared
with the parents of normal children (Feizi et al., 2014). Previous study clearly indicates
that the symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression are widely endorsed among
caregiver of the children with autism spectrum disorder. Such distresses were present and
quantified with DASS among caregiver of the children with autism spectrum disorder
who were generally having similar demographic background except for the level of
education (Al-Farsi et al., 2016).
It has been reported that a lifetime prevalence of major mood disorders is higher
in parents of children with autism. The signs of depression or a depressive state were
assumed to be the most common psychiatric disturbance seen. These results suggested
that thorough consideration of the parents’ mental health needs, especially prevention of
depressive conditions and support for parents suffering from them, is urgent-demanded
task for facilities (Al-Farsi et al., 2016). There is evidence in the literature that having a
child with a DD can have an effect on the mental health of parents. However, much of the
evidence is still conflicting. The study found that both mothers and fathers had
significantly higher odds of a diagnosis of depression or another mental health problem
following birth of their children with a developmental disability (DD), compared with
mothers and fathers of children who did not have a DD (Marquis, McGrail, & Hayes,
2020).

On the contrary, the transactional model suggests that the longer someone spends
trying to cope with a stressful condition, the better they would be able to adjust with that
challenge. During time, parents would adjust with the stress caused by their child's
disability. Hence, they will learn new skills to have better reacts and responds toward
their life conditions.
Limitations
The current study has several limitations. The use of parent self-report too for
assessing psychological distress may not be a most reliable measure psychological
distress due to over or under reporting by the participants. Finally, variables such as the
type of specific condition of disability and the severity of the condition were not
considered in the study which may have a significant impact on the parent’s
psychological distress. The sample size of the participants also were insufficient since
some respondents were excluded in the study, plus, the method to carry out the data was
performed through online. Some of the parents may not familiar with this method and
this restricts them to participate.

Implications and Recommendations


This study has demonstrated the high burden of psychological distress among
parents of children with special needs. This clearly highlights the need for the creation of
interventions to support parents of children with special needs which target the mental
health and psychosocial well-being of parents. Further studies which provided further
evidence on the risk factors related to psychological distress for parents may be helpful.
This would include studies which measured the functional severity of the child’s
disability as well as the specific diagnostic conditions which are more linked with
needing parental input and support. Through special caring measures such as hours and
the intensity of care and, by knowing the child's characteristics and parents’ expectations
of their disabled child, it could be possible to better realize the mechanism through which
having the children with special needs could affect parents’ psychological well-being.
Family support was critical to parents’ mental health and should be addressed to prevent
serious consequences.
Al-Farsi, O. A., Al-Farsi, Y. M., Al-Sharbati, M. M., & Al-Adawi, S. (2016). Stress, anxiety, and
depression among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder in Oman: a case–control
study. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 12, 1943.
Feizi, A., Najmi, B., Salesi, A., Chorami, M., & Hoveidafar, R. (2014). Parenting stress among
mothers of children with different physical, mental, and psychological problems. Journal of
research in medical sciences : the official journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences,
19(2), 145–152.
Jambekar, A. S., Padhyegurjar, M. S., Padhyegurjar, S. B., Joshi, S. P., & Shahri, P. (2018).
Impact of having a child with special needs on the psychosocial well-being of the parents: A
cross-sectional study. Journal of Mental Health and Human Behaviour, 23(2), 115.
Kobayashi, T., Inagaki, M., & Kaga, M. (2012). Professional caregiver's view on mental health
in parents of children with developmental disabilities: A nationwide study of institutions and
consultation centers in japan. International Scholarly Research Notices, 2012.
Marquis, S. M., McGrail, K., & Hayes, M. (2020). Mental health of parents of children with a
developmental disability in British Columbia, Canada. J Epidemiol Community Health, 74(2),
173-178.
Masulani-Mwale, C., Kauye, F., Gladstone, M., & Mathanga, D. (2018). Prevalence of
psychological distress among parents of children with intellectual disabilities in Malawi. BMC
psychiatry, 18(1), 1-7.

You might also like