Health coping among parents of children and adolescents with intellectual disability and functional psychosis

Background: Parents of medical and psychiatric conditions such as intellectual disability and functional psychosis have to cope with greater demands when caring for their child in comparison to those with healthy children. They have to adjust their family life to accommodate the frequent medical visits, the multi-component treatment regimen and their child's unpredictable illness course. It is important to underline that the child's quality of life can also influence the way in which a parent cares for their child and may affect the way they cope. Parental coping refers to a specific effort by which the parent attempts to handle or reduce a demand on the family system.
Aim & Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the behavior problems and health coping strategies among parents children with intellectual disability and functional psychosis.
Participants and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional hospital based study. The study samples were selected through purposive sampling technique. The sample size was 40 parents among which 20 parents of children and adolescent with intellectual disability and 20 parents of children and adolescent with functional psychosis taken from Erna Hoch Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit and Charak Outpatient Department, of the Central Institute of Psychiatry, Kanke, Ranchi. “Coping Health Inventory for Parents (CHIP)” (McCubbin HI. et al., 1983) scale was used for the data collection. Data were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS- 21 version).
Result & Conclusion: Results indicated no significant group differences in ratings of “Coping Health Inventory”.