Problems of Parents of People with Motor Disabilities A Field Study in the City of Damascus"

Abstract

This study aims is to identify the problems that face the parents of people with motor disabilities studying at public schools and centers for disabled persons in the city of Damascus psychologically, socially, and economically. To achieve this purpose, a questionnaire of (37) items that covered the three fields was administered to (200) parents of disabled persons. The answers were: ‘Yes’, ‘To some extent’, and ‘No’. The averages and standard deviations of the items were calculated to identify the problems that face the population of the study.
The results of the questionnaire show that the most common problems fathers face were the feeling of anxiety concerning the future of the disabled child; the low educational attainment of the disabled child; the feeling of a low-social status of the family; insufficient time for the fathers to practice the child’s hobbies; and insufficient income to cover the needs of the disabled person. On the other hand, the crucial problems that mothers pointed out were: the feeling of anxiety toward what would happen to the disabled child when the mother becomes unable to take care of him/her, the huge effort needed for the education of the disabled child, inability to increase knowledge, the difficulty of practicing favourite activities at home, and the family giving away a number of things because of disability.
The results also show that the problems facing the fathers of motor disabled persons were ranked as follows: psychological and social problems came first, whereas economic problems came second. For mothers, psychological problems came first, social problems came second, and economic problems came last.