Mothers with disabled children: needs, stress levels and family functionality in rehabilitation

This study was planned to investigate the relationship between the needs, stress levels of mothers with disabled children and family functioning in rehabilitation. The study was conducted with 181 mothers in a private rehabilitation centre in eastern Turkey. The personal information form, 'Family Needs Assessment Tool (FNAT)', 'Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)' and 'Family Functioning Scale in Rehabilitation (FFSIR)' were used in the data collection. In the analysis of data number, percentage, mean score, standard deviations, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis tests and Spearman correlation were used. The mean score of the mothers on the whole FNAT was 67.49 ± 1.85; the mean score of them on the PSS was 24.99 ± 4.32; the mean score of them on the FFSIR was 153.98 ± 20.61. It was found that there was a positive correlation between the mean scores of the mothers on the FNAT and PSS while there was a negative correlation between the mean scores of them on the PSS and FFSIR (p < 0.05). There was a significant relationship between the socio-demographic characteristics of the mothers and the PSS and FFSIR (p < 0.05). It was determined that the mothers' information needs were high, they had moderate stress levels, and the family functionality was moderate in rehabilitation. It was concluded that the mothers' stress levels increased as the needs of them increased while their stress levels decreased as the functionality of them increased in rehabilitation.