Perceived social support in mothers of typically developing children and mothers of children with hearing sensory impairment

Abstract

Background and Aim: Children with sensory impairments can bring stress to their parents. The purpose of this study was to compare per­ceived social support in mothers of children with hearing impairment, visual impairment, and typically developing children in Shiraz City, Iran.Methods: The study sample consisted of 139 mothers of normal children and children with sensory impairment (50 mothers of children with hearing impairment, 39 mothers of children with visual impairment, and 50 mothers of typ­ically developing children). The Multidimensio­nal Scale of Perceived Social Support was used to measure perceived social support. One-way ANOVA and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were respectively used for analy­zing the total score of perceived social support and the scores of its subscales.

Conclusion: The provision of counseling servi­ces and the implementation of appropriate inter­ventions for mothers of children with hearing impairment and mothers of children with visual impairment is necessary.