Abstract
Context: Lockdown and social isolation during the pandemic situation caused an especially stressful situation for families with children with special educational needs and disabilities. The psychological repercussions on parents of these children remain unattended. Aims: The primary aim was to find the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among parents of children with special needs during COVID-19 pandemic using Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS)-21. The secondary aim was to determine the correlation between the three domains of DASS-21 scale with the parent characteristics. Settings and Design: This was an observational study on parents of children with special needs visiting tertiary care center and special schools. Subjects and Methods: Eighty-seven parents of children with special needs participated Either parent of each child with special needs answered the questionnaire DASS-21. The total score of each participant was calculated for each component under each domain of the questionnaire. Statistical Analysis Used: Frequency distribution for occurrence of depression, anxiety and stress was analyzed. The linear associations were studied using correlation coefficient. Results: Out of 87 parents who participated in the study, 5.6% of the subjects had depression, 15.3% had anxiety, and 12.5% had stress. There was no significant correlation noted between individual domains of DASS-21 and the parent characteristics (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The study concludes that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress in parents of children with special needs was not significant. Further, no correlation was found between DASS-21 and the demographic characteristics of the parents.
Published Version
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