Comparison of psychological well-being and coping styles in mothers of deaf and normally-hearing children

• Main Authors: Abdollah Ghasempour, Ebrahim Akbari, Maryam Taghipour, Zeinab Azimi, Ebrahim Refaghat
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2017-07-01
• Series: Auditory and Vestibular Research
• Subjects: Mothers of deaf children; psychological well-being; coping styles
• Online Access: https://avr.tums.ac.ir/index.php/avr/article/view/494

Background and Aim: Families who have a child with hearing deficiency deal with different challenges, and mothers have a greater responsibility towards these children because of their traditional role of caregiver; so, they deal with more psychological problems. The aim of this study was to compare the psychological well-being and coping styles in mothers of deaf and normal children. Methods: In this cross-sectional and post event study (causal-comparative method), 30 mothers of deaf students and 30 mothers of normal students from elementary schools of Ardabil, Iran, were selected using available sampling. The Ryff psychological well-being (1989) and Billings and Moos coping styles (1981) questionnaires were used in this study. The data were analyzed using MANOVA test. Results: We found that in mother's of deaf children, psychological well-being and its components was significantly lower than mothers of normal children (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively). There was a significant difference between two groups in terms of cognitive coping style, too (p<0.01). However, mothers of deaf children used less cognitive coping style. Conclusions: It seems that child’s hearing loss affects on mothers psychological well-being and coping styles; this effect can be visible as psychological problems and lower use of adaptive coping styles.