Perceived Social Support of Mothers with Disabled Children

장애아동 어머니가 인지하는 사회적 지지

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived social support of mothers with disabled children. Method: This study was a cross-sectional, descriptive study using a questionnaire survey which included the standardized measure: personal resource Questionnaire 2000. Results: The participants were 98 mothers, each with one with disabled children. Of the 98 participant's children, 39.8% suffered mental retardation, 34.7% was developmentally disability, 16.3% was brain diseases and 9.2% was multiple disabled. The mean age of the disabled children was 8.2 years and of their mothers was 38 years. The order of the life events for which the need help for the subjects required help were 'when anger and frustration arise happened', 'difficulties in human relationship' and 'emergency situations'. The personal resources were spouse (38.1%), friends (20.9%) and parent (12.9%). The mean score of perceived social support was 5.48 out of a total of 7, indicating a slightly high on social support score. Significant differences were found in the level of perceived social support according to the school grade of disabled child's school grade (F=4.04, p= .02) and the mother having a job presence of mothers (t=2.49, p= .01). Conclusion: These findings indicate a need for nursing intervention programs for mothers with disabled children, including anger management, methods of human relationship, support for leisure time and long term illness and providing information.