QUALITY OF LIFE IN PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN COMPARISON WITH PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH NO DISABILITIES

Biti roditelj zahtjevan je zadatak, a kada su u pitanju djeca s teškoćama u razvoju taj zadatak postaje mnogo teži. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je usporediti kvalitetu života roditelja djece s teškoćama u razvoju na području Grada Rijeke i okolice s kvalitetom života roditelja djece bez teškoća u razvoju. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 85 osoba, pretežito ženskog spola u obje skupine. Ispitanici su bili roditelji djece mlađih razreda osnovne škole iz dvije škole na području Grada Rijeke. Kao mjerni instrument korišten je Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) s validiranom inačicom na hrvatskom jeziku. Rezultati su pokazali kako postoje određene razlike u kvaliteti života između dvije skupine. Nije pronađena statistički značajna razlika u ukupnom rezultatu upitnika između dvaju skupina. Statistički značajna razlika pronađena je u prvom djelu upitnika koji se odnosi na zadovoljstvo osobnim životom. Skupina ispitanika pokazala je statistički značajno niži rezultat od kontrolne skupine. Prva hipoteza djelomično je prihvaćena. Nije pronađena statistički značajna razlika između roditelja djece iz mlađe u odnosu na stariju dobnu skupinu iz skupine ispitanika, te je time druga hipoteza odbačena. U kontrolnoj skupini pronađena je statistički značajna razlika u odnosu na dobnu skupinu djece. Roditelji djece iz mlađe dobne skupine pokazali su nižu kvalitetu života u ukupnom rezultatu upitnika i u zadovoljstvu osobnim životom. Također ispitivačka skupina je pokazala značajno niže rezultate u odnosu na kontrolnu skupinu u zadovoljstvu vlastitim zdravljem i osjećaju pripadnosti okolini. Rezultati ovog istraživanja poklapaju se s prethodno provedenima. Istraživanje je provedeno na malom uzorku, te bi ga trebalo ponoviti na većem kako bi rezultati bili relevantniji.Being a parent is hard, but having children with disabilities makes that task so much harder. The objective of this research was to explore quality of life in parents of children with disabilities in comparison to parents of children with no disabilities in the city of Rijeka and its surrounding area. There were 85 people involved in the research and they were mostly of the female gender. The subjects were parents of children with and without disabilities that attend two primary schools in Rijeka and its surrounding area. The measuring instrument that was used was the Croatian, validated version of the Personal Wellbeing Index, known as the PWI. The results showed, although not great, significant differences in the quality of life between two groups. There were no statistically relevant differences between the two groups when looking at the grand score. When analyzing the PWI as having two different parts then we see a statistical difference in the first part of the questionnaire that is concerned with personal life satisfaction. The experimental group showed a much lower score than the control group. With this, we can partially accept the first hypothesis. There was no statisitically relevant difference between the parents of younger versus older children within the experimental group. With this, we can reject the second hypothesis. Furthermore, based on the same criteria relevant differences were found in the control group. Parents of younger children showed a lower quality of life score in both the grand score and the personal life satisfaction part than the parents of older children. Further analyzing the results we found that the experimental group showed a much lower satisfaction with their own health and the feeling of belonging in their community. The research has been conducted on a small sample and should be repeated on a bigger one so the results might be more relevant