TY - JOUR
T1 - Virtual Training on Stress Management for the Mothers of Children with Disabilities in the United Arab Emirates
AU - Abdat, Rawhi
AU - Opoku, Maxwell Peprah
AU - Safi, Mohammed
AU - Al Harballeh, Siham
AU - Garces-Bacsal, Rhoda Myra
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/1
Y1 - 2023/1
N2 - Parenting children with disabilities has consistently been reported to be associated with stress, and even more so among mothers who are primary caregivers. In non-Western contexts such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), there is a dearth of research on maternal mental health in relation to raising children with disabilities and related mitigation strategies. During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021), the Federal Government of the UAE used the Save the Child’s Stress Checklist to assess the stress levels of 635 mothers who were raising children with disabilities in the northern part of the country. In the pre-test, an estimated 6% (36/635) of the mothers were found to be experiencing high levels of stress. Consequently, virtual stress management training was conducted, and 12 of the 36 mothers completed the full training. Wilcoxon’s ranked test showed a reduction in their total, physical, emotional and cognitive stress at the end of the training. This study demonstrates the pressing need for ongoing training programmes to improve the mental health of mothers of children with disabilities in the UAE and similar contexts.
AB - Parenting children with disabilities has consistently been reported to be associated with stress, and even more so among mothers who are primary caregivers. In non-Western contexts such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), there is a dearth of research on maternal mental health in relation to raising children with disabilities and related mitigation strategies. During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021), the Federal Government of the UAE used the Save the Child’s Stress Checklist to assess the stress levels of 635 mothers who were raising children with disabilities in the northern part of the country. In the pre-test, an estimated 6% (36/635) of the mothers were found to be experiencing high levels of stress. Consequently, virtual stress management training was conducted, and 12 of the 36 mothers completed the full training. Wilcoxon’s ranked test showed a reduction in their total, physical, emotional and cognitive stress at the end of the training. This study demonstrates the pressing need for ongoing training programmes to improve the mental health of mothers of children with disabilities in the UAE and similar contexts.
KW - United Arab Emirates
KW - children with disability
KW - intervention
KW - parents
KW - stress management
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85146743926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85146743926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph20021450
DO - 10.3390/ijerph20021450
M3 - Article
C2 - 36674207
AN - SCOPUS:85146743926
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 20
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 2
M1 - 1450
ER -