A Comparison of Mothers' Health Promotion Behaviors between Children with or without Disabilities

학령전기 장애아동과 일반아동 어머니의 아동을 위한 건강증진행위 비교

Purpose: This study was performed to compare mothers' health promotion behaviors between those who have a disabled child and those who have a healthy child. Method: The participants were 243 mothers from 24 Daycare Centers for Children with Disabilities and 310 mothers from 5 child daycare centers. Mothers with preschool children completed self-report questionnaires, asking about health behaviors for preschool children. Data from these surveys was analyzed using the ANOVA, t-test, and $x^2$-test with the SPSS 15.0 Win program. Result: Mothers with disabled children showed less health promotion behaviors than the mothers' of children without disabilities. Two sub-categories, activity-exercise and health perception-health management pattern, showed significant differences between the two groups. In addition, mothers' health behaviors for disabled children were significantly different according to the children's age, mothers' employed status, and number of children in the family. Conclusion: These results suggest that mothers with disabled preschool children are likely to practice less health promotion behaviors with their children compared to others. These findings suggest that health promotion support programs for mothers with disabled children should be developed and offered. For effective intervention, pediatric nurses also need to be involved in the health of disabled children.