Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Related Variables in Families of Children with Disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects and relationships of variables related to the children with disabilities and their parents as well as the diagnosis process and informing parents after the diagnosis and variables which might be related to the traumatic stress levels of the parents of children with disabilities on parents’ traumatic stress levels. This study which was conducted as relational research included a total of 347 parents of children with disabilities. Data collection forms included personal information form, Traumatic Stress Symptom Scale, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. The results showed that traumatic stress levels of parents of children with physical impairments were higher than other parents, there was a significant relationship between the time passed after the diagnosis and parents’ traumatic stress levels; there was significant relationship between the parents’ age and parents’s traumatic stress levels; parents’ traumatic stress levels didn’t differ in terms of gender; traumatic stress levels of single parents were higher than married parents.

Keywords

• Children with disabilities,parents,posttraumatic stress symptoms

Kaynakça

1. Acierno, R., Ruggiero, K. J., Galea, S., Resnick, H. S., Koenen, K., Ro-itzsch, J., et al. (2007). Psycholo-gical sequelae resulting from the 2004 Florida hurricanes: Implicati-ons for postdisaster intervention. American Journal of Public He-alth, 97(1), 103-108.
2. Akandere, M., Acar, M., & Baştuğ, G. (2009). Investigating the hope-lessness and life satisfaction lev-els of the parents with mental dis-abled child. Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 22, 23-32.
3. Albay, E., Saltık, S., Molla, S., & Şen-veli, B. (1994). Depression and anxiety in parents of children with mental and/or physical retarda-tion. Trakya Üniversitesi Tıp Fakül-tesi Dergisi, 11, 62-90.
4. APA, (2007). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-4th edition: Text Revision. E. Köroğlu (Trans.). Ankara: Hekimler Yayın Birliği.
5. APA, (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th edition. E. Köroğlu (Trans.). Anka-ra: Hekimler Yayın Birliği.
6. Ardıç, A. (2013). Effects of psycho-educational group program on the some psychological variables of parents whose the children with autistic spectrum disorders. Docto-ral dissertation, Anadolu Univer-sity, Eskişehir, Turkey.
7. Bahar, A., Bahar, G., Savaş, H. A., & Parlar, S. (2009). Identifying de-pression and anxiety levels and styles of dealing with stress of mothers of children with disabili-ties. Fırat Sağlık Hizmetleri Dergisi, 4(11), 97-112.
8. Başoğlu, M., Şalcıoğlu, E., Livanou, M., Özeren, M., Aker, T., Kılıç, C., & Mestçioğlu, Ö. (2001). A study of the validity of a screening in-strument for traumatic stress in earthquake survivors in Turkey. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 14(3), 491-509.

9. Beavers, J., Hampson, R., Hulgus, Y., & Beavers, W. (1986). Coping in families with a retarded child. Family Process, 25(3), 365-378.
10. Blacher, J. & Baker, B. L. (2007). Posi-tive impact of intellectual disability on families. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 112, 330-48.
11. Blacher, J., Neece C. L., & Paczkow-ski, E. (2005). Families and intel-lectual disability. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 18, 507-13.
12. Blacher, J. & McIntyre, L. L. (2006). Syndrome specificity and behav-ioural disorders in young adults with intellectual disability: Cultural differences in family impact. Jour-nal of Intellectual Disability Re-search, 50(3), 184-198.
13. Boyd, B. (2002). Examining the rela-tionship between stress and lack of social support in mothers of children with autism. Focus on Au-tism and Developmental Disabili-ties, 17, 208.
14. Bright, J. & Hayward, P. (1997). Stigma and mental illness: A review and critique. Journal of Mental Health, 6, 345 -354.
15. Brogan, C. A. & Knussen, C. (2003). The disclosure of a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder: De-terminantsof satisfaction in a sample of Scottish parents. Au-tism, 7(1), 31-46.
16. Büyüköztürk, Ş., Kılıç-Çakmak, E., Akgün, Ö., Karadeniz, Ş., & Demi-rel, F. (2017). Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri. Ankara: Pegem Akademi.
17. Calderon, R. & Greenberg, M. (1999). Stress and coping in hearing mothers of children with hearing loss: Factors affecting mother and child adjustment. American An-nals of the Deaf, 144(1), 7-18.
18. Casey, L. B., Zanksas, S., Meindl, J.N., Parra, G. R., Cogdal, P., Powell, K. (2012). Parental symp-toms of posttraumatic stress fol-lowing a child’s diagnosis of au-tism spectrum disorder: A pilot study. Research in Autism Spect-rum Disorders, 6(3), 1186-1193.
19. Cavkaytar, A. & Diken, İ., H. (2006). Özel eğitime giriş [Introduction to special education]. Ankara: Kök Yayıncılık.
20. Cavkaytar, A., Batu, S., & Çetin, O. (2008). Perspectives of Turkish mothers on having a child with developmental disabilities. Inter-national Journal of Special Edu-cation, 23(2), 101-109.
21. Çelebi, F. (2005). Determining parental attitudes towards speech and language therapy services. Mas-ter’s thesis, Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey.
22. Çengelci, B. (2009). A comparison of level of anxiety, hopelessness and burnout syndrome of mothers who have children with diagnosis of autism or Down syndrome. Ege Eğitim Dergisi, 10(2), 1-22.
23. Çetinkaya, Z. & Öz, F. (2000). The effect of providing planned infor-mation over the fulfillment of in-formation needs of mothers hav-ing children with cerebral pal-cy. C.U. Hemşirelik Yüksek Okulu Dergisi, 4, 40-51.
24. Cohen, S. & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support and buffering hy-pothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310- 357.
25. Coşkun, Y. & Akkaş, G. (2009). The relation which between anxiety level of the mothers who have disabled children and social sup-port. Ahi Evran University Kırşehir Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 10(1), 213- 227.
26. Dabroswka, A. & Pisula, E. (2010). Parenting stress and coping styles in mothers and fathers of pre-school children with autism and Down syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54(3), 266-80.
27. Dehkordi, M., Kakojoibari, A., Moh-tashami, T., & Yektakhah, S. (2011). Stress in mothers of hear-ing impaired children compared to mothers of normal and other dis-abled children. Audiol, 20(1), 128-136.
28. Diken, İ. H. (2008). Otistik bozukluğu olan öğrenciler. İ. H. Diken (Ed.). Özel eğitime gereksinimi olan öğrenciler ve özel eğitim içinde (s. 409-440). Ankara: Pegem Akad-emi.
29. Dönmez, B., N., Bayhan, P., & Artan, İ. (2001). Examining issues en-countered by families of children with disabilities in the course of life cycle. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Toplum ve Sosyal Hizmet Dergisi, 12(2), 31-43.
30. Dumas, J. E., Wolf, L. C., Fisman, S. N., & Culligan, A. (1991). Parent-ing stress, child behavior prob-lems, and dysphoria in parents of children with autism, Down syn-drome, behavior disorders, and normal development. Exceptional-ity, 2(2), 97-110.
31. Duvdevany, I. & Abboud, S. (2003). Stress, social support and well-being of Arab mothers of children with intellectual disability who are served by welfare services in northern Israel. Journal of Intellec-tual Disability Research, 47(4-5), 264-272.
32. Duygun, T. & Sezgin, N. (2003). The effects of stress symptoms, cop-ing styles and perceived social support on burnout level of men-tally handicapped and healthy children’s mothers. Türk Psikoloji Dergisi, 18(52), 37-52.
33. Dyson, L. L. (1997). Fathers and mothers of school-age children with developmental disabilities: Parental stress, family functioning, and social support. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 102(3), 267-279.
34. Ehlers, A., Mayou, R. A., & Bryant, B. (1998). Psychological predictors of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder after motor vehicle acci-dents. Journal of Abnormal Psy-chology, 107(3), 508-519.
35. Eker, D. & Arkar, H. (1995). Çok boyut-lu algılanan sosyal destek ölçeği-nin faktör yapısı, geçerlik ve gü-venirliği [Factorial structure, validi-ty, and reliability of the multidi-mensional scale of perceived so-cial support]. Türk Psikoloji Dergi-si, 34, 45-55.
36. Eker, D., Arkar, H., & Yaldız, H. (2001). Factorial structure, validity, and reliability of revised form of the multidimensional scale of per-ceived social support. Türk Psiki-yatri Dergisi, 12(1), 17-25.
37. Falk, N. H., Norris, K., & Quinn, M. G. (2014). The factors predicting stress, anxiety and depression in the parents of children with au-tism. Journal of Autism and De-velopmental Disorders, 44, 3185-3203.
38. Feldman, M., Varghese, J., Ramsay, J., & Rajska, D. (2002). Relation-ships between social support, stress and mother-child interac-tions mothers with intellectual dis-abilities. Journal of Applied Re-search in Intellectual Disabilities, 15(4), 314-323.
39. Fışıloğlu, A. & Fışıloğlu, H. (1996). Turkish families with deaf and hard of hearing children: A sys-tems approach in assessing family functioning. American Annals of the Deaf, 141, 230-235.
40. Fiske, K. (2009). A cross-sectional study of patterns of renewed stress among parents of children with autism. Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, USA.
41. Friedrich, W. N., Wilturner, L. T., & Co-hen, D. S. (1985). Coping re-sources and parenting mentally retarded children. American Jour-nal of Mental Deficiency, 9(2), 130-139.
42. Gallagher, S., Phillips, A., Oliver, C., & Carroll, D. (2008). Predictors of psychological morbidity in parents of children with intellectual disabili-ties. Journal of Pediatry Psychol-ogy, 33(10), 1129-1136.
43. Goff, B. S. N., Monk, J. K., Malone, J., Staats, N., Tanner, A., & Spring-er, N. P. (2016). Comparing par-ents of children with Down syn-drome at different life span stag-es. Journal of Marriage and Fami-ly, 78, 1131-1148.
44. Gökler, I. (2007). The Turkish adapta-tion study of social support ap-praisals scale to be used with children and adolescents: Factor structure, validity and reliability. Çocuk ve Gençlik Ruh Sağlığı Dergisi, 14(2), 90-99.
45. Gray, D. E. & Holden, W. J. (1992). Psycho-social well-being among the parents of children with au-tism. Australia and New Zealand Journal of Developmental Disabili-ties, 18, 83-93.
46. Gupta, V. B. (2007). Comparison of parenting stress in different de-velopmental disabilities. Journal of Developmental and Physical Dis-abilities, 19, 417-425.
47. Guralnick, M., Hammond, M., Neville, B., & Connor, R. (2008). The rela-tionship between sources and functions of social support and dimensions of child and parent-related stress. Journal of Intellec-tual Disability Research, 1138-1154.
48. Harpin, V. A. (2005). The effect of ADHD on the life of an individual, their family, and community from preschool to adult life. Archives of disease in childhood, 90, 12-17.
49. Hartley, S. L., Seltzer, M. M., Head, L., & Abbeduto, L. (2012). Psycho-logical well-being in fathers of ad-olescents and young adults with Down syndrome, fragile X syn-drome, and autism. Family Rela-tions, 61, 327-342.
50. Hayden, M., & Goldman, J. (1996). Families of adults with mental re-tardation: Stress levels and need for services. Social Work, 41(6), 657-667. Hayes, W., & Watson, S. L. (2013). The impact of parenting stress: A meta-analysis of studies compar-ing the experience of parenting stress in parents of children with and without autism spectrum dis-order. Journal of Autism Devel-opmental Disorder, 43(3), 629-42.
51. Hill, C., & Rose, J. (2009). Parenting stress in mothers of adults with an intellectual disability: Parental cognitions in relation to child characteristics and family support. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 53, 969-980.
52. Hollahan, N. C. (2003). Parental cop-ing and family functioning in fami-lies with children with mental re-tardation and chronic illness. Doc-toral dissertation, Georgia State University, USA.
53. Irving, C., Basu, A., Richmond, S., Burn, J., & Wren, C. (2008). Twenty-year trends in prevalence and survival of Down syndrome. European Journal of Human Ge-netics, 16, 1336–1340.
54. Jones, J. & Passey, J. (2004). Family adaptation, coping and re-sources: Parents of children with developmental disabilities and behaviour problems. Journal on Developmental Disabilities, 11(1), 31-46.
55. Karande, S., Kumbhare, N., Kulkarni, M., & Shah, N. (2009). Anxiety levels in mothers of children with specific learning disability. Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, 55, 165-170.
56. Kaytez, N., Durualp, E., & Kadan, G. (2015). Evaluation of require-ments and stress levels of the families having a disabled child. Eğitim ve Öğretim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 4(1), 197-214.
57. Kazak, A. (1987). Families with disa-bled children: Stress and social network in three samples. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 15(1), 137-140.
58. Kazak, A. E. & Marvin, R. S. (1984). Differences, difficulties and adap-tation: Stress and social networks in families with a handicapped child. National Council on Family Relations, 33(1), 67-77.
59. Küllü, Z. (2008). Özürlü çocuk sahibi ebeveynlerde depresyon duru-munun değerlendirilmesi [Evalua-tion of depression in parents of children with disabilities]. Yüksek lisans tezi, Erciyes Üniversitesi, Kayseri.
60. Kuloğlu-Aksaz, N. (1990). Anxiety lev-els of parents of children with au-tism and teachable mental retar-dation. Türk Psikoloji Dergisi, 7 (25), 14- 20. Lamminen, L. (2008). Family function-ing and social support in parents of chil-dren with Autism Spectrum Disor-ders. Doctoral dissertation, Uni-versity of Kentucky, USA.
61. Lovell, B., Moss, M., & Wetherell, M. A. (2015). The psychophysiological and health corollaries of child problem behaviours in caregivers of children with autism and ADHD. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 59, 150-157.
62. Maedow-Orleans, K. (1994). Stress, support, and deafness: Percep-tions of infants’ mothers and fa-thers. Journal of Early Interven-tion, 18, 91-102.
63. Mansell, W. & Morris, K. (2004). A sur-vey of parents’ reactions to the diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder by a local service: Access to information and use of ser-vices. Autism, 8(4), 387-407.
64. McCubbin, M. & Huang, S. (1989). Family strengths in the care of handicapped children: Targets for intervention. Family Relations, 38(4), 436-443. Meral, B. F. & Cavkaytar, A. (2012). A Study on social support percep-tion of parents who have children with autism. International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications, 3(3), 124-135. Ministery of Education (MEB) (2006). Özel Eğitim Hizmetleri Yönet-meliği. https://orgm.meb.gov.tr/ adresinden 4.10.2016 tarihinde edinildi.
65. Nachshen, J. S., Woodford, L., & Min-nes, P. (2003). The family stress and coping interview for families of individuals with developmental disabilities: A lifespan perspective on family adjustment. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 47, 285-290.
66. Osborne, L. A. & Reed, P. (2008). Parents' perceptions of communi-cation with professionals during the diagnosis of autism. Autism, 12(3), 309-324.
67. Oflaz, F. (2008). Hasta çocuk ebe-veynlerinin pediatrik yoğun bakım deneyimi ve travmatik stres [Pedi-atric intensive care experience and traumatic stress of ill children and their parents]. Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi HYO Dergisi, 12(1), 53-59.
68. Olsson, M. B. & Hwang, C. P. (2001). Depression in mothers and fa-thers of children with intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 45, 535-543.
69. Örsal, Ö. (1998). Hemşirelik perspek-tifinden özürlülük [Disability from the perspective of nursing]. Re-trieved from http://www.dezavantaj.org/index.php/aratirmalar/8-engelli/289-hemsirelik-perspektifinden-ozurluluk-.
70. Özsoy, S. A., Özkahraman, Ş., & Çallı, F. (2006). Review of hardships undergone by families with men-tally retarded children. Aile ve Toplum Dergisi, 3(9), 69-76.
71. Phelps, R. A., Pinter, J. D., Lollar, D. J., Medlen, J. G., & Bethell, C. D. (2012). Health care needs of chil-dren with Down syndrome and impact of health system perfor-mance on children and their fami-lies. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 33, 214-220.
72. Plant, K. M. & Sanders, M. R. (2007). Predictors of care-giver stress in families of preschoolaged children with developmental disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 51(2), 109-124.
73. Roberts, A. L., Koenen, K. C., Lyall, K., Ascherio, A., & Weisskopf, M. G. (2014). Women’s posttraumatic stress symptoms and autism spectrum disorder in their children. Research in Autism Spectrum Di-sorders, 8(6), 608-616.
74. Sabih, F. & Sajid, W. (2008). There is significant stress among parents having children with autism. Rawal Medical Journal, 33(2), 214-216.
75. Sayın, G. (1997). The relationship between the types of stressors, the causal attributions, the type of disability and the stress levels of the mothers of children with men-tal disabilities hearing impairment and physical disabilities. Master thesis, Middle East Technical Uni-versity, Ankara.
76. Sen, E. & Yurtsever, S. (2007). Diffi-culties experienced by families with disabled children. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 12(4), 238-52.
77. Şentürk, M. & Varol-Saraçoğlu, G. (2013). A comparison between mothers having healthy children and mothers having physically and mentally handicapped edu-cable children in terms of their perceived familial social support and depression le-vels. International Journal of Ba-sic & Clinical Medicine, 1(1), 40-49.
78. Smith, T., Oliver, M., & Innocenti, M. (2001). Parenting stress in fami-lies of children with disabilities. American Journal of Orthopsychi-atry, 71(2), 257-261.
79. Speedwell, L., Stanton, F., & Nischal, K. (2003). Informing parents of visually impaired children: Who should do it and when? Child Care Health Development, 29(3), 219-224.
80. Symon, J. B. (2001). Parent education for autism: Issues in providing services at a distance. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 3(3), 160-174.
81. Todis, B. & Springer, G. (1991). Stress and stress management in fami-lies with adopted children who have severe disabilities. Research and Practices for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 16(1), 3-13.
82. Tröster, H. (2001). Sources of stress in mothers of young children with visual impairment. Journal of Vis-ual Impairment and Blindness, 95(10), 623-637.
83. Uğuz, Ş., Toros, F., İnanç, B. Y., & Çolakkadıoğlu, O. (2004). Zihinsel ve/veya bedensel engelli çocukla-rın annelerinin anksiyete, depres-yon ve stres düzeylerinin belirlen-mesi. Klinik Psikiyatri, 7, 42-47.
84. Uyaroğlu, A. & Bodur, S. (2009). Anxi-ety of parents of mentally handi-capped children and effects of in-forming on anxiety level. TSK Ko-ruyucu Hekimlik Bülteni, 8(5), 405-412.
85. Van Steijn, D. J., Oerlemans, M., Van Aken, M. A. G., Buitelaar, J. K., & Rommelse, N. N. J. (2014). The reciprocal relationship of ASD, ADHD, Depressive symptoms and stress in parents of children with ASD and/or ADHD. Journal of Au-tism and Developmental Disor-ders, 44, 1064-1076.
86. Weiss, M. J. (2002). Hardiness and social support as predictors of stress in mothers of typical chil-dren, children with autism, and children with mental retardation. Autism, 6(1), 115-130.
87. White, N. & Hastings, R. (2004). Social and professional support for par-ents of adolescents with severe intellectual disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 17(3), 181-190
88. Woodgate, R. L., Ateah, C., & Secco, L. (2008). Living in a world of our own: The experience of parents who have a child with autism. Qualitative Health Research, 18, 1075-1083.
89. Yıldırım-Sarı, H., & Başbakkal, Z. (2010). Depression among moth-ers of children and adults with in-tellectual disability in Turkey. In-ternational Journal of Nursing Practice, 16, 248-253.
90. Yılmaz, B. (2006). Posttraumatic stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth in rescue workers. Doctoral dissertation, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey.
91. Zimet, G., Dahlem, N., Zimet, S., & Farley, G. (1988). The multidimension-al scale of the perceived social sup-port. Journal of Personality Assess-ment, 55, 610-617.