The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical implication for establishing social support system for the mothers of mentally disabled children by examining the relationship between social support for and psychological well-being of the mothers...
The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical implication for establishing social support system for the mothers of mentally disabled children by examining the relationship between social support for and psychological well-being of the mothers of mentally disabled children. The detailed research goals for accomplishing this purpose are as follow: First, the social support for the mothers of mentally disabled children is identified. Second, the psychological well-being of the mothers of mentally disabled children is identified. Third, the correlation between the social support for and the psychological well-being of the mothers of mentally disabled children is identified.
Accordingly, in order to examine the relationship between the social support for and the psychological well-being of the mothers of mentally disabled children, three (3) special schools for disabled, two (2) welfare facilities for disabled, and one (1) special day care for disabled children have been selected from the city of Daegu. A total of 250 survey packets were distributed to the mothers of mentally disabled children and 203 packets were returned.
Various methods of data analysis were used in this study: (1) frequen cyanalysis, which is a simple statistical analysis for understanding the general and overall trend between the mothers and their mentally disabled children using SPSS for Windows, (2) the independent sample t-test and ANOVA for verifying the difference between the social support and psychological well-being based on general attributes, (3) correlation analysis for understanding the correlation between social support and psychological well-being, and (4) multi-regression analysis based on the stepwise method for verifying the effects on psychological well-being from social support.
Based on the identified results, I would like to propose the following regarding the relationship between the social support for and the psychological well-being of the mothers of mentally disabled children.
1) The social support for and the psychological well-being of the mothers of mentally disabled children are influenced by the characteristics of mothers and their children, and thus, in order to enhance social support and psychological well-being, it would be more effective to increase the number of official and diverse social support programs by taking the family environment and the characteristics of both mothers and children into consideration.
2) The social support for the mothers of mentally disabled children has been proven to increase the psychological well-being of the mothers. Therefore, in order to improve the psychological well-being, it would be necessary to prepare and expand the social support systems that are meaningful to the mothers of mentally disabled children while providing guidance for strengthening individual resources and abilities through parent education, training and consultation.
3) Understanding the resources that are practical and utilizable is a priority in developing and using programs that promote the psychological well-being of the mothers of mentally disabled children.
Moreover, further studies must be conducted on the use of the resources by understanding the various factors that influence the social support for and the psychological well-being of the mothers of mentally disabled children, and by developing and utilizing the resources of the mothers of mentally disabled children.