Assessment of Stress and Coping of Parents of Disabled Children

The study was designed to assess the stress and coping styles of parents of disabled children. In this regard the following hypotheses were formulated: Mothers and Fathers differ in terms of their scores on parental stress and family coping. Parents of children who have single disability differ in scores on parental stress and family coping from those of children with multiple disabilities. Certain demographic factors, namely, urban-rural status and income of the parents, working status of mothers, age and gender of disabled children influence the stress level and coping of the parents. By using purposive sampling technique the study was conducted on (N = 200) respondents (100 mothers and 100 fathers). PSI developed by R. Abidin (1995), FCS developed by M. Annapurna (1999) and socio-demographic sheet developed by the researcher have been used. The data was analysed by using t-test, correlation and regression analysis. Results revealed that the parents of children with disabilities experienced increased level of stress. However mothers showed higher score on total stress as compared to fathers. Children of multiple disabilities produce more difficulty for mothers.