RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNAL STIGMA AND DEPRESSION IN MOTHERS OF CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

The presence of a child with intellectual disability in the family can cause various psychological problems in parents. One of the variables affected by the presence of a disabled child in the family is internal stigma, which can cause or exacerbate depression in mothers of children with cerebral palsy. This study aimed to determine the relationship between internal stigma and depression in mothers of children with cerebral palsy.

This study is a descriptive cross-sectional-correlational research conducted in 2023. One hundred eighty-five mothers of children with cerebral palsy who were referred to welfare and rehabilitation centers of Urmia City entered the study by convenience sampling. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the Internal Stigma Scale for mothers of children with intellectual disability, and the Beck Depression Inventory. The study was conducted over seven months. All data were entered into IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 22 (IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA) and then analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The mean score of internalized stigma and depression in participants was 83.33 ± 49.62 and 17.59 ± 13.53, respectively. High levels of depression were reported in 21.6% of the participants. Moreover, a significant direct linear relationship was found between internalized stigma and depression among participants (r = .47, p < .001).

The results suggest that internal stigma caused by having a child with cerebral palsy can be related to mothers’ depression. Awareness of Health officials and policymakers about this relationship can make more visible the importance of applying scientific and practical measures to change people’s attitudes in this field and, as a result, reducing the internal stigma of mothers of children with cerebral palsy.