Resilience in Mothers having Children with Disabilities

Abstract

In a developing society and community with limited rehabilitation and care services there are major challenges for mothers with disabled children and the responsibility of a child’s growth falls solely on the shoulders of the mother or caregivers. Understanding the resilience in mothers (caregivers) is becoming more important as a process in the area of disabilities, for quality development and caring of children with disabilities. The question tthat comes to mind is, what factors make some families do well in adverse conditions while others fight to keep their family life functional, when they are subjected to similar stresses? The aim of this research is to explore the role of resilience factors in mothers having children with disabilities. This study was conducted to assess the resilience of mothers who have children with disabilities. In this scientific study all 300 mothers (100 mothers with intellectual disability, 100 mothers with locomotor disability, and 100 mothers of normal children) were selected from northern India. The resilience scales were administered to assess the resilience variable; the scale has the 4-factor solution, which had 31 items: the alpha reliability coefficient was 0.95. The result of the study shows that the F-value for resilience in mothers of intellectually disabled children, children with locomotor disabilities and of normal children the F value for resilience is 198.379 which is significant at 0.001 levels of significance. This shows that there is difference within the group of mothers of intellectually disabled children, children with locomotor disabilities and normal children. Findings reveal that the level of resilience is different in mothers of intellectually disabled children, children with locomotor disablilities and normal children. The dentification of factors that promote resilience in mothers of children with intellectual disabilities is likely to advance clinical practice by providing new emphasis in clinical areas in family- centered care. Evidence supports the theory that resilience is linked to the availability and accessibility of culturally relevant resources. The results are especially important for building a group of resilient mothers who will be involved in their children’s recovery.