Challenges Faced by Nigerian Parents with Disabled Children in Caring for Them

Abstract

Disabilities in children pose a lot of challenges, fear and worries for the parents and careers of the disabled children. This study tried to find out those challenges faced by parents of disabled children while caring for them. Questionnaires designed to gather the needed information, were distributed to parents of children with disabilities who bring their children for treatment at a Federal government hospital in the eastern part of Nigeria. Same questionnaire was also filled online by parents with disabled children on a Facebook platform that goes by the name "Super Parent". Our study revealed that parenting disabled children can be very stressful as there are lots of challenges faced by parents of disabled ranging from emotional and financial stress, lack of supports, discrimination, loss of social life and others which result in psychological problems, depression, physical exhaustion and reduced quality of life.

Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Psychological Health and Inflexibility among Mothers of Children with Cerebral Palsy

“…Irrespective of the degree of intellectual disability, caregivers must cope with the special needs of their children thereby making it not simply a problem for affected children, but in factual reality a 'family disease' (Witt et al, 2003). This research study set out to explore the effective skills mothers having such children should possess and this seems more germane in underdeveloped countries where families bear the burden of care for such children unlike in developed countries where external assistance and institutions are readily available to help lessen the burden on family members, thereby improving their psychological health (Geere et al, 2013;Daniel et al, 2021;Moosa-Tayob & Risenga, 2022) Hayes & Smith (2005, as cited in Hulbert-Williams et al, 2015 explained that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is less concerned with traditional models of psychopathological categorization and maintains that suffering is normal and should not be seen as an indication of ill-health. ACT incorporates a trans-diagnostic model of intervention emphasizing the broadening of an individual's psychological repertoires to improve coping responses to adverse stressor events.…”