A Study to Assess the Parenting Stress and the Related Factors among Parents of Differently Abled Children in Selected Special Schools of Kolkata

Background: An overwhelming majority of differently abled children especially with ID have traditionally cared for in their families. Parents are the central and most important link in the care, education and supervision of child with disability hence they undergo enormous amount of physical and psychological issues related to child care and very little work has been done in this regards. Objectives: the study was conducted to assess the parenting stress, identify the related factors affecting and association of parental stress with identified factors and selected demographic variables. Study Design: A cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: Research was conducted among differently abled children from 5-18 years of age in 5 selected special schools of Kolkata using parental stress scale by berry berry and a self- structured questionnaire. Results: Parents of differently abled children experienced (48.7 %) severe to (47.3 %) moderate stress with mean score 67.48�5.444 and 54.21�4.157 respectively, while raring the child. The identified factors contributing to parental stress were extra inputs for care, altered social life, worry& disturbed behaviour of child. Conclusions: The findings of the study revealed that parents experienced severe as well as moderate parental stress, irrespective of gender. The primary responsibility of caring the child was often fulfilled by the mothers hence they were more stressed than the fathers.