Ling, Lee Wai
(2014)
Factors associated with parenting stress among mothers with down syndrome children in Kota Bharu, Kelantan.
Project Report.
Pusat Pengajian Sains Kesihatan.
(Submitted)
Abstract
Through research about predictors of parenting stress among mothers of Down
syndrome children, hopefully that some information obtained could be utilized to
advocate for mental health services for mothers of young children with intellectual
disabilities in Malaysia. Depression, anxiety, parenting stress and others negative impacts
were observed among the parents of children with Down syndrome. The aim of this study
was to determine the parenting stress level and factors that may associate with parenting
stress level among mothers with Down syndrome children in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. After
obtaining ethical approval from both hospital and USM ethics committees, a cross sectional
study was carried out among mothers with Down syndrome children from
Pediatrics Clinic Hospital USM and Lion Club’s Down syndrome Center in Kota Bharu.
Purposive sampling method was used to recruit the sample. There were 30 mothers being
involved in this study. Data were collected using a self- administered questionnaire
developed by the researcher according to previous literature. The questionnaire was
available in two languages (English and Malays) in which included demographic data,
parental stress scale, pediatric symptoms checklist, DASS and COPE. Then, data was
being analyzed using the Statistical Package Social Science (SPSS) software version 20.0.
Descriptive statistics were used to present the demographic data. The results suggested
that the parenting stress level could be significantly associated with child behavioral
problems, maternal depression and stress as well as maternal coping methods. By using
the cut- off point of 28 from Child Behavior Checklist for children aged more than 6
years old and cut- off of 24 for younger children, 12 (40.0%) of the Down syndrome
children had reported having behavioral problems. The mean stress score for mothers
with a child having behavioral problems (50.5) was higher than that of those who did not
report having behavioral problems (37.1), with a p value less than 0.001. The mean
parenting stress score of normal, mild and moderate depression score were 39.9, 50.8 and
51.0, with p value 0.023. The mean stress score of mothers that scored normal, mild as well as moderate stress score were 39.6, 51.4 and 53.5, giving a significant p value of
0.006. The mean COPE score in the study was 79.3 (SD = 9.2), ranging from 66 to 96.
The correlation coefficient between mean parenting stress and COPE score was -0.634,
with p value <0.001.The parenting stress level among mothers with Down syndrome
children was caused by child behavioral problem, then affected by maternal depression
and anxiety and lastly buffered by maternal coping methods. Thus, more research should
be conducted in order to clarify more about the possible causes of parenting stress level
and intervention to alleviate the stress.
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