A Study in Depression Levels among Mothers of Disabled Children

Objectives: The global prevalence of lifetime depression is very high among women in the world–approximately 12-25 percent. The global prevalence of disability is also very high and the estimated figure for the end of 2000 was put at around 300 million. The child’s disability stresses the mother the most, and this stress shows itself in the form of depression, and causes the mother’s performance or function to drop, and thus has a negative effect on the child’s treatment. Methods: The research is of the analytical kind (cross sectional), and as well as depression other demographic items are reviewed. The sample study volume is one hundred mothers of disabled children who went to one of the rehabilitation centers of the provincial town of Karaj between 2002 and 2006. The tools for this study is the standardised beck depression scale, and the test data was broken down and analysed by (chi square) and the SPSS software. Results: The results of this study indicated that 73% of mothers, had degrees of depression, and approximately 21% of them suffered from severe depression, and out of all the variables, there was a significant relationship only between the mothers’ depression and the children’s type of disability. Discussion: The results of this study indicated that the depression levels among mothers of disabled children were equal to 3-5 of the global range, and in view of the negative effects that the mothers’ depression have on the recuperation process of the children, the necessity to support parents with disabled children –which would to a large extent reduce the stress levels– is felt more than before.