Educational and Social Support Need Assessment of Mothers Having Children with Down Syndrome for Developing a Comprehensive Program for Training Mothers

Designing extensive programs for training families with Down Syndrome children and implementing appropriate supportive programs for them require assessing their educational and supportive needs. In the present study, the educational and social needs of mothers with Down Syndrome children were assessed in order to design a comprehensive program for training mothers.

The study was a descriptive-survey design, and participants were 30 mothers of female children with Down Syndrome attending Aslani Special School in the academic year 2015-2016 in Tehran, Iran. The mothers were selected by convenient sampling method. The Need Assessment Questionnaire (Beh-Pajooh & Mahmoudi, 2014) was adapted and completed by the mothers. The questionnaire consisted of three parts: The first part included demographic information about children with Down Syndrome and their parents; The second part included 13 open-ended questions, and the third part consisted of 28 items using four-point Likert scale (very much, much, little, and very little).

The findings revealed that mothers of children with Down Syndrome reported high levels of worry about their children’s future, and would like to know about services at the present and the future. What matters is to inform them about their children’s future and there should be appropriate educational programs – especially regarding independent living skills training – for such children and their families.

Mothers of children with Down Syndrome have a need for social support and education; this shows the importance of planning and implementing appropriate supportive and educational programs for such families.