Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
The impact of the mentally handicapped child upon parents : a comparative study
Bibliography: leaves 243-259.
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Department of Psychology
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613221515427840 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Lea, Susan Jane |
| author_browse | Lea, Susan Jane |
| author_facet | Lea, Susan Jane |
| author_sort | Lea, Susan Jane |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Bibliography: leaves 243-259. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/15866 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:41.376Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | Department of Psychology |
| publisherStr | Department of Psychology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/15866 The impact of the mentally handicapped child upon parents : a comparative study Lea, Susan Jane Psychology Bibliography: leaves 243-259. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the mentally handicapped child upon the parents. A paucity of systematic and comprehensive work exists in this field in general, and particularly in South Africa. For this reason broad aims and exploratory research hypotheses were formulated, within the theoretical framework of stress, coping and social support. Participants were the biological parents of mentally handicapped children (N = 72). All participants were classified as 'white' and an equal number of mothers and fathers was selected. Two groups (n = 36) of participants were chosen for comparison, i.e. parents who had placed the handicapped child in permanent residential care and parents whose handicapped child lived at home and attended a daycare centre. The number of parents with a male child equaled the number of parents with a female child in each group. The study embraced both quantitative and qualitative methods. In terms of the quantitative design, participants completed two questionnaires. The Personal Details Questionnaire, drawn up by the researcher, served to elicit the demographic details of participants. The short-form of the Questionnaire on Resources and Stress (Friedrich, Greenberg & Crnic, 1983), a true-false questionnaire, was used to estimate the psychological costs to parents living with and caring for a mentally handicapped child. Parametric and non-parametric tests, where appropriate, were employed to analyse the data. Qualitative material was gathered during the course of depth interviews which were conducted with the parents. All parents were interviewed twice in their own home and the duration of each interview was between two and five hours. A semi -structured interview schedule was used to guide the interview, during which the two questionnaires were also completed. All interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and loosely content analysed. Several variables were found to be significantly associated with parental stress. Mothers were shown to experience stress of a different nature to that experienced by fathers in relation to the handicapped child. A significant relationship between parental stress and gender of child and type of care, in interaction, was revealed. The variables of socio-economic status, religious conviction and the parents' medical and psychological history were related to parental stress. Interpersonal social support was shown to influence the manner in which parents coped with the mentally handicapped child. Findings were discussed in the light of relevant theory and an attempt was made to for formulate a theoretical framework, utilizing the concepts of stress, coping and social support. 2015-12-20T15:38:38Z 2015-12-20T15:38:38Z 1986 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15866 eng application/pdf Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Psychology Lea, Susan Jane The impact of the mentally handicapped child upon parents : a comparative study |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The impact of the mentally handicapped child upon parents : a comparative study |
| title_full | The impact of the mentally handicapped child upon parents : a comparative study |
| title_fullStr | The impact of the mentally handicapped child upon parents : a comparative study |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of the mentally handicapped child upon parents : a comparative study |
| title_short | The impact of the mentally handicapped child upon parents : a comparative study |
| title_sort | impact of the mentally handicapped child upon parents a comparative study |
| topic | Psychology |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15866 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT leasusanjane theimpactofthementallyhandicappedchilduponparentsacomparativestudy AT leasusanjane impactofthementallyhandicappedchilduponparentsacomparativestudy |