The Effectiveness of Psycho-social Empowerment Program in reducing Parental Stress and Enhancing Psychological Well-Being of Parents with Mentally Retarded Children

Naeimi, Ghader; Zahrakar, Kianoosh; Mohsen Zadeh, Farshad; Pirsaghi, Fahimeh

The Effectiveness of Psycho-social Empowerment Program in reducing Parental Stress and Enhancing Psychological Well-Being of Parents with Mentally Retarded Children

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Ghader naeimi

kianoosh zahrakar

farshad mohsen zadeh

Fahimeh pirsaghi

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of psycho-social empowerment program on reducing parental stress and enhancing psychological well-being of parents with mentally retarded children. Methods: A semi-experimental method with pre-test, post-test and control group design were employed. The population consisted of 648 parents with mentally retarded children that 40 of them were selected via Convenience sampling. 20 parents who had scored lower on the both parental stress and psychological well-being scales were screened and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received eight sessions (each 90-minute) of psycho-social empowerment. Data were collected through Frederick's Resource and Stress questionnaire and Riff's Psychological Well-being Inventory. Results: Data analysis using multivariate covariance (MANCOVA) indicated that psycho- social empowerment significantly reduced the parental stress(p= 0/001) and enhanced the psychological well-being(p= 0/001) of parents with mentally retarded children. Conclusion: Finally, the findings imply that the psycho-social empowerment program is an appropriate method for intervening in these parents psychological problems.

Keywords

Psycho-Social Empowerment

Parental Stress

Psychological Well-Being

Parents of Mentally retarded Children