The Effect of Teaching Stress Management on the Reduction of Psychological Problems of Families with Children suffering from Hearing-Impairment

The birth of a hearing-impaired child is an unexpected and stressful event for family. Then family will face ma-ny stresses and psychological prob-lems may arise. The aim of this study is to reduce the stress of families of hearing-impaired children by means of a stress management program. The main goal of the program was to promote knowledge and skills of par-ents during six sessions of education. Subjects were 33 mothers of preschool hearing-impaired children.A semi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test design without con-trol group was used. SCL-90 and GHQ questionnaires were administer-ed for the subjects. Data were analy-zed by means of paired t-test before and after training sessions. Findings showed a significant reduction of psy-chological problems in mothers after participating in the stress management program. Regarding the importance of mother's roles in the rehabilitation of hearing-impaired children, it is necess-ary to prepare educational programs for them and reduce mother's stress by supporting them.