Mental health among parents of children with intellectual disabilities

Ovim radom želi se dobiti uvid u aspekte mentalnog zdravlja roditelja djece s intelektualnim teškoćama (IT) iz njihove perspektive te informacije o tome što bi im bilo važno osigurati kako bi se doprinijelo očuvanju njihovog mentalnog zdravlja. U Hrvatskoj se malo pažnje usmjerava na mentalno zdravlje roditelja djece s IT pa je iz tog razloga jedan od ciljeva ukazati na faktore koji na njega imaju pozitivan i negativan utjecaj te važnost preventivnih programa i intervencija namijenjenih roditeljima. Istraživanjem se nastojao dobiti uvid u način na koji je dijagnoza djeteta utjecala na život roditelja te dodatno utjecaj pandemije koronavirusa na život djece i roditelja. Korišten je namjerni uzorak koji je uključivao 7 roditelja (1 otac i 6 majki) djece s teškoćama u razvoju, u dobi od 37 do 48 godina. Sudjelovalo je šestero roditelja djece s dijagnozom sindroma Down te jedan roditelj djeteta s dijagnozom cerebralne paralize. Za potrebe istraživanja konstruirao se upitnik „Aspekti mentalnog zdravlja roditelja djece s teškoćama“. Istraživanje je provedeno pomoću polustrukturiranog intervjua koji se snimao te su audio zapisi transkribirani i analizirani kvalitativnom analizom. Kroz uporabu kvalitativnog pristupa istraživanja rezultati su pokazali kako roditeljima glavni izvor zadovoljstva predstavljaju obitelj, socijalni odnosi i posao, dok se kao drugi faktori koji utječu pozitivno uočavaju različiti oblici podrške, vrijeme za sebe te razvijeni načini suočavanja sa stresom. Kao faktori koji utječu negativno, identificirani su nedostatak vremena, način funkcioniranja državnog sustava te stres koji doživljavaju vezan uz njihovu djecu. Pri istraživanju utjecaja djetetove dijagnoze na život roditelja, uočeno je kako su početne reakcije uključivale su šok, anksioznost, odlaske liječniku te osjećaj gubitka vlastitog djeteta, dok u okviru sadašnjeg pogleda na dijagnozu djeteta roditelji napominju kako su je prihvatili i ona nema veliki utjecaj na njihov život. Značajni utjecaj na život obitelji imao je i koronavirus i potresi u Zagrebu koji su roditeljima i djeci u život unijeli stres, nedostatak socijalnih odnosa i otežan pristup zdravstvenim uslugama. Znanstvenici naglašavaju važnost formalne i neformalne podrške, kao i primjene strategija intervencije i prevencije koje će doprinijeti mentalnom zdravlju roditelja. Područje rada na njegovoj zaštiti i poboljšanju predstavlja novitet na području Republike Hrvatske te ostavlja prostora za napredak.The aim of this paper is to give insight into the aspects of mental health among parents of children with intellectual disabilities from their own perspective. One of the goals was to identify factors that have positive influence on their mental health, and the ones which have the negative one. Also, we wanted to get parents perception on the influence the diagnosis of their child had on their life. Since the beginning of the research, we were caught in the pandemic caused by the COVID-19, and we were interested in the way that it influenced the lives of parents and their children. The study included 7 parents, 6 mothers and one father, from age 37-48. Six children had the diagnosis of Down syndrome, while one child had the cerebral palsy diagnosis. For the needs of this study, we constructed a questionnaire „Aspects of mental health among parents of children with disabilities“. Qualitative methodology was used and the information was assembled trough semi-structured interview. Audio recordings were saved, transcript and used in a qualitative analysis. Results show that main sources of contentment come from their own family, social relations and work place. Other factors include the support parents have, time for their own needs and the stress coping strategies they developed during time. Aspects with negative effect on their mental health include the lack of time, obstacles coming from the state system and worrying about their child. Parents report major differences in the way the diagnosis of their child affected them in the beginning, and in the way they perceive it nowadays. In the beginning, most parents reported the state of shock, anxiety, lots of visits to the doctor and feeling like the have lost their child. Nowadays, they revealed that they have accepted the diagnosis of their child, and it no longer has an impact on their lives. The coronavirus and earthquakes that affected Croatia had a big effect of everyday life of parents and their families. They caused a lot of stress and because of restrictive measures during the pandemic, parents and their children couldn't socialize, also their access to medical institutions was limited. The domain of work that includes the main focus on parents and their mental health presents the area of work that still needs to be improved. There is a lack of experts who would give them information and support, but also big obstacles coming from the way state's system works