Relationship between stress and religious coping and mental health in mothers with normal and intellectually disabled children

AIM: The purpose of present study was to investigate the relationship between stress, religious coping with mental health of mothers who have normal and intellectually disabled children. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: To fulfill the above purpose, 383 individuals (190 mothers who had intellectually disabled children and 193 mothers who had normal children) were chosen via convenience sampling. To collect data, Religious Coping Scale (Pargament, 2000), General Health Questionnaire, (Goldberg and Hillier, 1979), and Questionnaire on Resources and Stress (GreenBerg and Crick, 1983) were utilized; the data were analyzed through regression coefficient. RESULTS: Analysis of the data showed that while the stress of intellectually disabled children's mothers was significantly and inversely related to social function, the stress of normal children's mothers was significantly and directly related to other factors of mental health (depression, anxiety, and social function). In both groups, there was a significant and direct relationship between positive religious coping and social function and also between negative religious coping and physical function, anxiety, and depression. While there was a significant and direct relationship between the stress of intellectually disabled children's mothers and negative religious coping methods, there was no relationship between the stress and religious coping methods of normal children's mothers. Stress, physical function, anxiety, and depression of intellectually disabled children's mothers were significantly more than normal children's mothers. In addition, the comparison of the two groups showed that there is more positive religious coping among mothers with normal children. CONCLUSION: The intervention in religious beliefs and reduction of stress among intellectually disabled children's mothers is something necessary and important. Hence, the present study suggests that it is necessary to persuade intellectually disabled children's mothers into religious beliefs and reliance on God in order to reduce their mental pressure and enhance their mental health