Korean J Child Health Nurs.  1997 Aug;3(2):190-202.

A Study on the Stress and Coping Patterns of Mothers with Cerebral Palsy Children

• Lee HZ
• Lee JW

Abstract

Mothers with cerebral palsy children have much stress that is related to the care of children with cerebral palsy and to other household duties, and this state of the mother has an effect on the cerebral palsy child and on other household member. Mothers in such stressful situations use various coping patterns. The purpose of this study was as follows : to develop instruments that can be used for measuring the stress and coping patterns of mothers with cerebral palsy children, and to test a hypothetical model on the relationship between the mother's stress, her coping patterns and the variable affecting the stress and coping patterns. The result of this study can be summarized as follows : 1. The stress scale was composed of 44 items and Cronbach's alpha was .94, and the coping pattern scale was composed of 19 items and Cronbach's alpha was .80. The mean score of stress scale was 136.12 out of a total of 220, and the mean score of the coping scale was 72.87 in a total of 95. 2. In test of the hypothetical model, it was found that extra-care demand, the support of the husband, the degree of handicap, health status and self-esteem had statistically significant influence on the mother's stress(r=.285,-.262,-.133,-.126). And the support of the husband, formal support, informal support, and economic status were found to have statistically significant influence on the mother's coping patterns(r=.412, .178, .178, .138).

MeSH Terms

Cerebral Palsy*
Child*
Family Characteristics
Humans
Mothers*
Spouses
Child Health