An Investigation of Basic Needs and Related Factors in Parents of Children with Down syndrome

Down syndrome is one of the most common causes of intellectual disabilities in children. The birth of a baby requires a positive adaptation of the family to new changes, especially when the child has a disability such as Down syndrome. When a child with Down syndrome is born, parents experience many conflicting emotions and feel inadequate. Therefore, it is important to examine the needs of these parents with issues related to living with a child with Down syndrome, as well as the factors that affect the needs.
This is a descriptive-analytical research conducted cross-sectionally on 172 parents of families with children aged 1-19 with Down syndrome who were covered by the welfare organization of Guilan province. Simple random sampling method without placement was used in sampling for this research. The data collection tools were Glaser's Basic Needs Questionnaire to measure needs and a researcher-made questionnaire of related factors. Data were analyzed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Wilcoxon, Friedman, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman correlation coefficient tests in IBM SPSS Statistics version 26.
The findings of this research showed that there was a weak significant negative relationship between the need for survival and the need for freedom (P=0.001 and r=0.245). There was no significant correlation between the scores of the need for recreation and the need for strength (P=0.534 and r=0.048). There was a statistically significant difference between the scores of the parents of children with Down syndrome in Glasser's basic needs scale (P<0.001). A statistically significant difference was observed between the scores of the need for power according to the educational level of the parents (P=0.007), and a statistically significant difference was also observed between the scores of the need for power according to the level of the parents' income (P=0.011).
The findings of this study show that the performance of families who face fewer needs and receive higher levels of social support is better than those of the families who face multiple needs and receive limited social support.