Religious Coping Styles, General Health, and Psychological Well-Being Among Mothers of Mentally Disabled Children

Objectives: The birth and presence of an exceptional child in a family can be considered as an undesirable challenging event. This event may be associated with stress, frustration, sadness, and despair. This study aimed to examine the relationship of religious coping styles with general health and psychological well-being among mothers of mentally disabled children. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the mothers (n=68) whose mentally disabled children were enrolled in spacial schools in Zabol in the academic year 2012-2013. A study population was selected and homogenized through applying a convenience sampling method. Aflakseir and Coleman Religious Coping Scale, Keyes and Magyar Subjective Well-Being Questionnaire, and Goldberg and Hillier General Health Questionnaire were used to collect data. Data analyses were performed by applying a Pearson correlation coefficient and a stepwise regression analysis. Results: This study revealed that negative feelings towards God and passive religious coping were related to subscales of general health among the mothers of mentally disabled children. The stepwise regression analysis demonstrated the most significant role of negative feelings towards God in predicting general health among the mothers of mentally disabled children. Moreover, none of the subscales of religious coping were able to predict the mothers’ psychological well-being.  Discussion: The results of the current study suggest that the religious coping styles affect the general health among the mothers of mentally disabled children. This study also indicated that paying attention to the type of religious coping used by these mothers is essential.