Comparison of psychological well-being and coping styles in mothers of deaf and normally-hearing children

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. 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. We found that in mother's 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. It seems that child's 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.