Investigating the Relationship Between Mindfulness and Social Support with Mental Health of Mothers with Mentally Retarded Child

The existence of a mentally retarded child in a family compromises the mental health of its members, however, other variables play a role in explaining the psychological status of the parents of these children. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental health and social support and mental health of mothers with a mentally retarded child. A total of 92 mothers with at least one mentally retarded child aged 6 to 14 years were selected as the sample. The data were collected through a mindful attention awareness scale (Brown and Ryan, 2003), multidimentional scale of percieved social support  (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley,1998), depression, anxiety and stress scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation test and multivariate regression. The results showed that there is a significant negative relationship between the depression, anxiety and stress scores (p< 0.01). But there was no significant relationship between mothers’ mental health and social support. The results also showed that the mindfulness could significantly predict depression (β = 0.50) and anxiety (β = 0.46) of mothers (P <0.001), but maternal stress were not predicted by any of the variables of mindfulness and social support. The significant relationships between mindfulness and mental health of mothers with mentally retarded child, highlights the necessity of psychological interventions based on mindfulness.