Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences s6

RAJIV GANDHI UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES, KARNATAKA, BANGALORE ANNEXURE – II

PROFORMA FOR REGISTRATION OF SUBJECTS FOR DISSERTATION

1. NAME OF THE CANDIDATE MR. NELSON D’ SOUZA AND ADDRESS I YEAR M.SC. NURSING (IN BLOCK LETTERS) CITY COLLEGE OF NURSING SHAKTHINAGAR MANGALORE -575 016

2. NAME OF THE INSTITUTION CITY COLLEGE OF NURSING MANGALORE – 575 016.

3. COURSE OF STUDY AND M. Sc. NURSING SUBJECT PSYCHIATRIC NURSING

4. DATE OF ADMISSION TO THE 10-05-2007 COURSE

5. TITLE OF THE TOPIC

“EFFECTIVENESS OF PSYCHOEDUCATION REGARDING COPING

STRATEGIES FOR THE MOTHERS OF PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED

CHILDREN STUDYING IN SELECTED SCHOOLS AT MANGALORE”

6 BRIEF RESUME OF THE INTENDED STUDY Introduction A child should be brought up in spirit of understanding, friendship, peace and universal brotherhood. Child should not be exposed to racial, religious and other forms of discrimination. Child is entitled to grow up in an atmosphere of affection, material security and morality, with the public authorities taking care of children without families or other support. A physically, mentally or socially handicapped child should be entitled for special treatment, education and appropriate care.1 A child's chronic illness often presents physical, emotional, and financial challenges to all family members. The prevailing view is that having a child with a chronic illness in the family generally results in negative family outcomes, such as marital distress, divorce, sibling maladjustment, and financial difficulties.2

6.1 Need for the study It has been well documented that the parents of children with disabilities experience chronic stress. The recent research evidence has evaluated the types, degree and determinants of the stress faced by the families in caring for their disabled members .The literature is uniform in reporting that families do experience high levels of stress. It is also noted that having a child with disabilities affects not only the parents, but also siblings and the relationships among the family members.3 As mothers are the usual caretakers of their children, they probably are more sensitive to the acceptance or rejection of their child by others. Also, it is the mothers who generally face the greater burden of child-rearing, and thus require more help and support from others. In India, the mothers are often blamed by the paternal grandparents or the father for giving birth to a child with mental retardation. 4 In a study done on autistic children it was found that mothers were much more likely to claim that their child’s autism had severely affected their emotional well- being. There is considerable and consistent evidence that mothers experience greater impact than fathers. The most striking difference between mothers and fathers was the differing personal impact of their child’s autism. For fathers, the most serious effect of their child’s autism was the stress experienced by their wives. The nature of stress has been shown to span over several aspects of family life such as daily care demands, emotional distress (e.g., maternal depression), interpersonal difficulties (e.g., parental discord), financial problems and adverse social consequences (e.g., social isolation).5 Parents of children with disabilities do go through prolonged periods of stress than do parents with typically developing children. Like any other child, the family and environmental systems also affect a child with disabilities. A negative attitude towards disability from the family members, relatives,3 friends and the society, not only impacts the child directly, but also adds on to the existing stress levels of the family.6 Every human being has to learn to cope with various situations from time to 4