A Comparative Study of Mothers of Children ‎with Cerebral Palsy and Mothers of Normal ‎Children Regarding Social Support and ‎Mental Health

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the level of social support and mental health among mothers of children with and without cerebral palsy and the relationship between them. This study also aimed to examine the differences between mothers' social support and mental health level according to the child's condition and the interactions with the other variables: age group and monthly income. The study sample consisted of 215mothers, 46 mothers of cerebral palsy children, and 169 mothers without cerebral palsy children, who were chosen using the available method from Amman. The results showed that the level of social support among mothers of children with and without cerebral palsy was moderate. In contrast, the level of mental health among mothers of children with cerebral palsy was low, while it was moderate among mothers of children without cerebral palsy. Also, there were statistically significant differences in the level of social support among mothers due to the variable of the child's condition in favor of mothers of children with cerebral palsy. There were no significant differences in the level of social support among mothers due to the variables of the age group and the interaction between the child's condition and the age group. The results also indicated that there were differences due to the monthly income variable in favor of mothers whose income is less than 500 Jordanian dinarsand due to the interaction between the child's status and the monthly income, which means that there is a hierarchical interaction between the two variables of the study. On the other hand, the results indicated statistically significant differences between mothers' level of mental health according to the variable of the child's condition in favor of the mothers of children without cerebral palsy. The results also indicated no significant differences between the level of mental health among mothers according to the age group and no significant differences according to the interaction between the child's condition and the age group. The results further revealed significant differences between the level of mental health among mothers according to their monthly income, in favor of mothers from the monthly income category (more than 1000 Jordanian dinars), and there were significant differences between the mothers' level of mental health according to the interaction between the child's condition and monthly income