Parental Attitudes Towards the Children with Down Syndrome

Praca recenzowana / Peer-reviewed paperIntroduction. The birth of a baby is a very important moment for each family. It is even more important when the newly born family member suffers from a disease or is disabled, like in case of babies afflicted with Down syndrome. The disorder evokes varied and changeable attitudes and feelings of parents towards their children. According to statistics, out of 600–700 babies born alive there is one affected by Down syndrome. Such a child may show diff erent degrees of mental disability, a wide range of dismorphic symptoms as well as suffer from various developmental defects affecting both their organs and systems. The families of such children encounter numerous barriers and difficulties, and their lives change completely. Aim of the work. To show what percentage of parents show positive and negative attitudes towards their children and to fi nd out which attitude prevails among the parents of children affected by trisomy 21. Materials and methods. A diagnostic ballot was used to collect data for the research. The respondents were asked to fill in the questionnaire of parental attitudes by Maria Ziemska. The research was conducted in February and March 2010 on the group of 31 mothers of children suffering from Down syndrome, 24 of the women belonging to foundations and associations working for the benefit of the children affected by the syndrome. Results and conclusions. According to the research, most of the mothers show negative attitudes towards their children. These involve overprotection, excessive protection against peers and the whole world, helping the children out with everything, restricting them and setting them lower challenges. The minority of mothers show positive or border attitudes. It is worth mentioning that the right attitude towards the child, and its acceptance are essential and determine a happy and stately life of a child suffering from Down syndrome