STRESS AMONG PARENTS WITH EPILEPTIC CHILDREN

Aswani Yatheendran and Yachna Pradhan , MSW 2nd Year, Christ University,

Dr. Sheeja Remani B Karalam, Associate Professor, Christ University Bangalore

Introduction Stress is a feeling that's created when we react to

particular events. It's the body's way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness. Stress is defined as any physical or emotional demand that you feel unable to handle.

Parental Stress is a set of process that lead to aversive psychological and physiological reactions arising from attempts to adapt to the demands of parenthood. (Deckhard,2004)

Parental stress is defined as a stress resulting from parental dysfunctional behaviors or behavioral characteristics of the child. (Abidin,1995)

All parents experience stress and difficulties at times, but raising children with special needs often face additional and unique challenges in care giving.

Epilepsy/seizures affects normal routine.

Objective: To analyse the stress level of the parents with children having epilepsy.

Hypothesis H1: There is a significant difference in the

stress level of fathers and mothers with children having epilepsy.

Ho: There is no significant difference in the stress level of fathers and mothers with children having epilepsy

Methodology

Universe: Parents with children of age 10-15yrs undergoing treatment for epilepsy from the past 5yrs.

Sample: 20 fathers and 20 mothers. Parental stress scale

Result and findings: The data was collected from 40 parents i.e.,

20 mothers and 20 fathers. And another inclusion criterion was those parents of children with epilepsy and also who was undergoing treatment from the past 5 years in “X” private hospital. This study has revealed that there is a significant difference between the stress level amongst fathers and mothers of children with epilepsy.

Group Statistics

Sex N Mean Std.Deviation t sig

Stress1(mother) 20 62.7000 3.97492 -2.159 .037

2(father) 20 65.2500 3.47737 -2.159 .037

Mother Father61

61.5

62

62.5

63

63.5

64

64.5

65

65.5

Stress Level

Stress Level

Q2 Q3 Q5 Q7 Q10 Q11 Q13 Q17

2.25

4.5

2.85 2.85

3.85 4 3.8

2.2

3.4

4.7

3

3.954.25 4.2 4

2.8

Stress DifferenceMother

Conclusion The conclusion of my study is fathers with

children having epilepsy deals with higher amount of stress level compared to mothers.

Studies supports the stress that fathers experience when caring for a child with epilepsy. The results give insight into the unique family stress that fathers experience as a result of the interaction between the social context of a child with epilepsy and the family's coping patterns (Pei-Fan Mu, 2005).

Reference

Berry, J. O., &Jones, W.H. (1995). The Parental Stress Scale: Initial psychometric evidence. Journal of social and personal relationships, 12, 463-472

Childhood Age Epilepsy and Family ,Cicek Hocaoglu and Ayse Koroglu,Rize University, Turkey

Depression, anxiety and quality of life in parents of children with epilepsy, R. Lv, et.al, Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, vol 120, issue 5,pages 335–341, November 2009

Family factors and psychopathology in children with epilepsy,Roos, Rodenburg, et.al, Epilepsy & Behavior vol6 (2005) pg 488–503

Kidshealth.org Mental health week,

1-7-2011http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=2-70-71 Psycho-social Impact of Epilepsy and Issues of Stigma, Hung TF Anchor,

medical bulletin, vol14, No.5, may 2009 An overview of epilepsy with a focus on the effects and implications of

the condition for children and their families, salford.ac.ukVA Featherstone - 2009 - usir.salford.ac.uk

Thank you