Resilience and mental health literacy mediate the effect of caregiver burden on internalized stigma among mothers of children with disabilities

ABSTRACT

This study explores the mediating role of psychological resilience and mental health literacy in the relationship between caregiver burden and internalized stigma among mothers of children with disabilities (CWD). A sample of 252 mothers completed measures assessing these variables. Results showed significant correlations between psychological resilience, caregiver burden, mental health literacy, and internalized stigma. Mediation analyses indicated that psychological resilience and mental health literacy partially mediated the relationship between caregiver burden and internalized stigma. These findings highlight the importance of enhancing psychological resilience and mental health literacy to alleviate caregiver burden and reduce internalized stigma among mothers of CWD.

KEYWORDS:

• Mothers
• children with disabilities
• caregiver burden
• internalized stigma
• psychological resilience
• mental health literacy

Acknowledgments

We thank the participant mothers and their children for providing valuable insights for this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data are available upon request from the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.