Parental Burnout, Post-Traumatic Growth and Social Support for Mothers of Children with Disabilities

The article is devoted to the study of level indicators and the relationship between parental burnout, perceived stress, post-traumatic growth and social support in mothers of children with disabilities. The study involved 73 women, aged from 27 to 44 years (average age 36.15 years), raising children with severe chronic diseases aged 3 to 10 years (average age 7 years, average duration of the disease — 4 years, chronic the disease must have been detected in the child at least 1.5 years ago). Methods: Questionnaire “Perceived Stress Scale — 10” adapted by V.A.Ababkov; social support questionnaire “F-SOZU-22” developed by G. Som- mer, T.Fydrich, 1993 and adapted by A.B.Kholmogorova, N.G.Garanyan, G.A.Petrova; Pa- rental burnout questionnaire by I.N.Efimova; Post-traumatic growth questionnaire by R.Tedeschi, L.Calhoun, adapted by M. Sh. Magomed-Eminov. The study found high levels of perceived stress, average levels of parental burnout and post-traumatic growth, and below average levels of social support among mothers of children with disabilities. Close relations between social support and post-traumatic growth, social support and stress, and parental burnout were revealed, while relations were found between indicators of post-traumatic growth and parental burnout and stress with only one indicator of post-traumatic growth — “personal strength”. Emotional support, satisfaction with support, and subjective marital satisfaction were predictors of parental burnout and stress, and social integration was a predictor of post-traumatic growth. For mothers to cope with the stress associated with a child’s chronic illness, as well as post-traumatic growth, social support is the most important factor.

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