Manasa Veena Madala¹*, Khushi Sitapara¹, Akash Daddanala¹, Sheetal Akula², Rishabh Singh Kalra³ and Godavarthy Anish Raj⁴

¹Junior Resident, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sri Sai College of Dental Surgery, Vikarabad, Telangana, India
²Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sri Sai College of Dental Surgery, Vikarabad, Telangana, India
³Junior Resident, Faculty of Dental Sciences, MS Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, India
⁴Junior Resident, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal, India

*Corresponding Author: Sheetal Akula, Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sri Sai College of Dental Surgery, Vikarabad, Telangana, India.

Received: December 04, 2023; Published: December 27, 2023

Abstract

Background: Parents of children with intellectual disabilities are constantly under stress due to the challenging nature of raising them. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the psychological stress the parents of special children face.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in the various schools for special children in and around the city of Hyderabad in March 2023. Abedin’s Parenting Stress Index (short form) was used, and the questionnaires were distributed among 265 parents and carers of special children. Descriptive statistics, frequency distribution, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple linear regression analysis were done using the collected data.

Results: When categorised under mild, moderate, and high-stress level groups, 90 parents out of 265 were in the low-stress, 87 under moderate stress, and 88 under the high-stress level group. A significant correlation was observed between stress among parents of special children the education status of the parent (P < 0.05), and the duration of disease since diagnosis in the child (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The study concluded that the majority of the parents are in psychological distress.

Keywords:Psychological Distress; Parental Distress; Special Kids; Parental Stress Index; Difficult Child; Intellectual Disability

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Citation

Citation: Sheetal Akula., et al. “Assessing the Prevalence of Psychological Distress in Parents of Special Children".Acta Scientific Dental Sciences 8.1 (2024): 89-94.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2024 Sheetal Akula., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.