Assessment of Stress and Anxiety in Parents of Children with Intellectual Disability

The presence, upbringing and looking after of a mentally retarded child in the family, can become a threat to the mental health of its parents and is the main predisposing factor of stress for the parents. Present hospital based cross sectional analytical type of observational study was carried out at outpatient department (OPD) of Psychiatric Centre, S.M.S. Medical College Jaipur with the specific aims to assess and compare daily parenting stress and anxiety among parents of children with intellectual disability. Total 90 randomly selected subjects {both parents of mentally retarded (MR) children} were evaluated separately for daily parenting stress and anxiety using the Family Interview for Stress and Coping (FISC-MR) and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A). According to Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of children, three groups were created: Group A (30 parents of moderate to profound MR children), group B (30 parents of mild to borderline MR children) and control group C (30 parents of children normal intelligence).IQ of the children was assessed by trained clinical psychologist and diagnosis was made as per ICD-10 criteria. Controls were taken from healthy volunteer and screened by two psychiatrists. A self designed, pre-tested & semi-structured detailed Performa was used for socio-demographical and clinical profile. The data was analyzed using by using SPSS. Parents in group A had significantly higher level of daily parenting stress and anxiety than groups B and C, group B parents had higher level of anxiety and daily parenting stress than group C. Mothers experienced greater anxiety and daily parenting stress compared to fathers. A positive correlation was found between daily parenting stress and anxiety.