Comparison between the Hypochondria and Mental Health of the Mothers of Children with the Special Needs and the Mothers of Normal Children

Purpose of the present study was to compare the hypochondria and the mental health of the mothers of children with the special needs and the mothers of normal children in Isfahan. It was a descriptive causative-comparison study and by using convenience sampling method, 90 mothers of disabled children (30 children with Down syndrome, 30 with autism and 30 with cerebral palsy) from the rehabilitation centers in the north of Isfahan were selected as the experimental group and by multistage random sampling method, 30 mothers of normal children of primary schools in Isfahan were selected as the control group. Ahwaz Hypo-chondriasis Test and Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire were applied to assess the participant's status and the gathered data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey test. Results revealed that, in general, there was a meaningful difference between the mothers of children with special needs and the mothers of normal children in terms of hypochondria and mental health. Moreover, paired comparisons indicated that there was a significant difference between the mothers of disabled and normal children in terms of the mental health. Furthermore, in comparison to the mothers of normal children, there was a significant difference between the mothers of children with cerebral palsy and autism in terms of hypochondria; however, there was no significant difference between the mothers of children with Down syndrome and the mothers of normal children in this term. According to the findings of this research, stresses resulting from having disabled children could endanger the mother's mental and physical health and the specialists should consider this issue when they deal with such families.