Examination of depression levels in mothers of handicapped children

This study has been designed to examine depression levels in mothers of handicapped children. Participants were 160 mothers with handicapped children who served as the study group and 170 mothers without handicapped children who served as the control group. All the participants completed a brief questionnaire and were queried in terms of the Beck Depression Inventory, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. It was established that the mothers with handicapped children did not show differences in their depression levels according to the types of their children's handicap. It was also seen that there were high co-relational associations between the scores of all three depression scales in the whole group. Moreover, the study group, consisting of mothers with handicapped children, obtained higher average scores than the control group in all three depression scales used in the study. In the light of all the results, it is foreseen that providing mothers with social and psychological support will directly increase the quality of life of both mothers and their handicapped children.