Relationship between Religious Attitudes and Coping Strategies for Stressful Conditions in Mothers with Epileptic Children

Background and Objectives: Epilepsy causes permanent stress due to its chronic nature. Consequently, it is necessary for mothers who have child with epilepsy to know anti-stress strategies and its related factors. Spiritual attitude is regarded as one of strategies to cope with stress. For this reason, this study was aimed to study the relation between spiritual attitude and coping strategies for stress in mothers who have child with epilepsy in Kerman, Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 100 mothers with children with epilepsy hospitalized in two hospitals of Kerman were studied. Data collection was performed using a two-section questionnaire (Religious Attitude Questionnaire developed by Khodayarifard et al., and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations developed by Endler and Parker). Results: Mothers who had child with epilepsy have a high religious attitude. Results also revealed that mothers with stronger spiritual attitude (compared with those who had less spiritual beliefs and behaviors) were significantly more successful in adopting coping strategies for stress due to their child disease. In addition, findings showed that various subscales of spiritual attitude consisting of spiritual beliefs, spiritual affections, and spiritual behaviors were significantly correlated with coping strategies for stress in mothers who have a child with epilepsy. Conclusion: Results of this study, indicating that spiritual attitude in its mentioned dimensions, could reinforce those strategies in mothers who have a child with epilepsy. Furthermore, moral attitude could be effective and helpful for adaptation of mothers with their child epilepsy and decrease their stress.