Relationship of Lifestyle and Attachment to God with Depression Mediated by Quality of Life among Mothers of Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Background: Mothers often bear a heavy psychological burden in society due to their disabled children. As mothers often spend more time taking care of these children, they are exposed to different types of stress and mental disorders. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between lifestyle and attachment to God with depression with the mediating role of quality of life (QoL) in mothers of children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) in Tehran. Methods: The study was a descriptive correlation performed by path analysis. The statistical population of the study comprised all the mothers of children with IDs in Tehran in 2020.  Among the study population a total of 213 mothers were selected as the sample of the study using convenience sampling. The research instruments included the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Attachment to God Questionnaire, the Lifestyle Assessment Inventory (LSI), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF). The proposed model was evaluated via structural equation modeling (SEM), and the indirect relationships were tested via bootstrapping. Results: The results showed that there was a direct and significant relationship between attachment to God and QoL (β= 0.40, P= 0.001), and between lifestyle and QoL (β= 0.31, P= 0.001).  There was a negative relationship between attachment to God and depression (β= -0.40, P= 0.001), and between the QoL and depression (β= -0.37, P= 0.001). The results of indirect path analysis showed that QoL had a mediating role in the relationship between attachment to God and lifestyle with depression (P= 0.001). Conclusion: The results confirmed the good fit of the proposed model. This model can, therefore, expand our understanding of the factors affecting depression in mothers of children with IDs to aid preventive programs aiming to mitigate their stress and depression.