DEPRESSION AMONGST PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

Abstract

Background: Parental stress is the major factor that increases a risk of unwillingly placing children with disabilities. The aim of our study is to assess the frequency of depression amongst parents of children with intellectual disability. Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted for 10 months in various hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Karachi, Pakistan. Participants were inducted using purposive sampling technique. Parents of intellectually challenged children up to 18 years of age were included and a self-administered questionnaire was utilized for data collection both in English and Urdu. PHQ 8 was used to assess the severity of depression amongst parents. For all purposes, p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Permission was sought from the ethical review board. Results: High proportion of parents interviewed suffered significantly from moderate to severe depression [223 (66.2%)]. Gender comparison revealed [186 (75.9%)] females had moderate to severe depression compared to [136 (40.3%)] males (p-value=0.000). Some factors associated with the child such as severity of disability also had an impact [197 (69.3%)], parents having children with Cerebral Palsy suffered moderate to severe depression as opposed to [26 (49%)] parents of children with Down’s Syndrome (p-value=0.03). The most common way to relieve stress was praying practiced by [176 (52.2%)] the parents. Conclusion: Amongst the parents of children with intellectual disability (ID), a significantly high proportion was suffering from depression. From the child’s aspect, age and severity of disability had an impact. Most common strategy identified to overcome depression was praying.