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

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. 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. The results showed that there was a significant difference between perceived social support and its subscales among mothers of children with hearing impairment, mothers of chi ldren with visual impairment and mothers of typically developing children. So, perceived social support and its subscales in mothers of children with hearing impairment and mothers of children with visual impairment are significantly lower than mothers of typically developing children (p < 0.01). It should be noted that there was no significant difference in perceived social support between mothers of children with hearing impairment and mothers of children with visual impairment. 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.