Depression and Quality of Life of Parents of Disabled Children

Objective: To explore and compare the level of depression and quality of life among the parents of disabled children. Study Design: It was a comparative study between the two groups (mothers fathers of disabled children). Material Method: Present study comprised of 100 parents (Mothers = 50, Fathers = 50) whose children age range was 3-12 years (mean age=10 years) and the disabled children were those who were enrolled in the Special Education and Rehabilitation Centers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. For the purpose of data collection Speech and Hearing Center Mardan, Speech and Hearing Center Peshawar and Special Education Center Mansehra were approached by the researcher in the year 2012. For data collection two research instruments; Center of Epidemiological Study Depression Scale (CES-D) and World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) of Urdu version were filled by the parents in Parent Teacher Meetings. Results: The independent “t- test” revealed that the mothers of disabled children were more depressed than the fathers of the disabled children. One significant finding was that mothers of disabled children were leading still low quality of life than their fathers. Conclusion: Study concluded that mothers of disabled children were more depressed and has low Quality of life than the fathers of disabledchildren. Through result analysis it was inferred that parents of disabled children felt over burden and it cause stress and depression, further the sample characteristics showed that they belong to average family and hardly full fill their basic needs.