Coping resources of parents of developmentally handicapped children living in rural communities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess stress associated with a handicapped child experienced by parents living in rural communities and to determine the role of family resources in the mediation of such stress. A sample of 56 parents of developmentally handicapped children from rural communities in south eastern Ontario completed the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale — FACES-II, the Family Crisis-Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale — F-COPES, the Questionnaire on Resources and Stress-Short Form and a family information checklist. Stepwise multiple linear regression analyses using individual QRS subscales as criterion measures were conducted. The predictor variables for each regression included: cohesion and adaptability scores from the FACES-II. scores from the F-COPES subscales: social support, spiritual resources, mobilizing professional and agency support, reframing and passive appraisal as well as child's age and degree of handicap, parents' marital status and level of education. Social support emerged as the major predictor in all but two analyses. Whereas, social support was negatively correlated with stress, reframing, which was the second most frequent predictor to emerge, was positively correlated with stress. Family characteristics e.g., cohesion and adaptability and child characteristics e.g., severity of handicap emerged less often as predictors. The implications of these findings for future research and clinical practice are discussed.