Managing Stress in Parents of Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Intellectual disability in India is a major challenge which not only limits the capacity of the afflicted individual but at the same time also leads to the parent's vulnerability to stressors. There is considerable evidence to suggest that parents of children with intellectual disability experience greater stress than caregivers of children without intellectual disability. This stress tends to be chronic in nature and therefore persists over substantial period of time. Caring for children with intellectual disabilities drains parent's economic, physical, mental and psychological resources. Behavioural problems which are frequently associated with intellectual disabilities add to the parental stress. The present paper while reviewing current literature highlights the nature of stress experienced by parents of children with intellectual disabilities and its effect on family environment and also demonstrates evidence based intervention strategies for its management. The relationship between the child related characteristics and parental stress are also discussed. The results suggest that there are practical implications of reducing parental stress which will be beneficial for general parent training interventions and also for successful behaviour management programmes for children. There is a need to replicate parental stress management programmes with a more diverse group and long-term follow-up.