1Seoul Southern Welfare Center for Persons with Disabilities, Korea. 2Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Korea. 3Kunsan College of Nursing, Korea. ljh@kcn.ac.kr
Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the level stress in rearing children and quality of life of mothers of children with disabilities and to identify the relationship between stress of rearing these children and quality of life of the mothers.
METHOD: A descriptive, correlational study design was used.
The participants in this study were 225 mothers of children with disabilities. With SPSS, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to analyze the data.
RESULTS: 1) The mean score for maternal stress in rearing children with disabilities was 3.46, and for quality of life, 2.80. 2) Stress in rearing these children had a negative correlation with quality of life (r=-.761, p=.000).
CONCLUSION: It is suggested that intervention programs to decrease the stress of rearing these children and increase the quality of life should be offered to mothers of children with disabilities.