Stress Levels between Mothers of Children Attending Normal School and Special School in Erode, Tamilnadu

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to observe the stress levels between mothers of children attending Normal

school and Special school in Erode, Tamilnadu. The present study was a cross-sectional (comparative) study.

The present study was conducted in and around Erode district, TamilNadu. 120 mothers were taken for the

study, out of which 60 were mother of intellectually disabled children diagnosed with ID based on Diagnostic

and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM5) criteria and 60 was mother of normal

children. A total of 60 mothers of intellectually disabled children were selected through convenient sampling

method. Stress inventory questionnaire was used to assess the stress levels. The major findings of this study

are that mothers of children with intellectual disability experience stress. However, all the subjects experience

higher level of Emotional, Cognitive, Behavioral stress than Physiological stress. Generalizations from this

study are cautioned, due to the small volume of data and convenient selections of schools. Considering all

that has mentioned above it has been shown that mothers of children with intellectual disability experience

different levels of stress. Some relevant therapeutic interventions for these mothers and through methods

of stress management interventions could be adapted to prevent many of these mothers’ problems with

their children. Special educations and early interventional measures should be more extensive in India and

it should be available to educate and support mothers of intellectual disability children. The results of this

study show that most of the mothers in our sample population must be referred to specialists for professional

consultation on stress management.