Background and Aim: Families who have a child with hearing deficiency deal with different challenges, and mothers have a greater responsibility towards these children because of their traditional role of caregiver so, they deal with more psychological problems. The aim of this study was to compare the psychological well-being and coping styles in mothers of deaf and normal children.
Methods: In this cross-sectional and post event study (causal-comparative method), 30 mothers of deaf students and 30 mothers of normal students from elementary schools of Ardabil, Iran, were selected using available sampling. The Ryff psychological well-being (1989) and Billings and Moos coping styles (1981) questionnaires were used in this study. The data were analyzed using MANOVA test.
Results: We found that in mother&aposs of deaf children, psychological well-being and its components was significantly lower than mothers of normal children (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively). There was a significant difference between two groups in terms of cognitive coping style, too (p<0.01). However, mothers of deaf children used less cognitive coping style.
Conclusions: It seems that child&aposs hearing loss affects on mothers psychological well-being and coping styles this effect can be visible as psychological problems and lower use of adaptive coping styles.