Psychological health of mothers caring for mentally disabled children in Qatar

Objectives: To compare the prevalence ofpsychiatric morbidity among mothers of mentallydisabled children and mothers of non-disabledchildren, and to identify the determinantsassociated with psychiatric morbidity.Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study wasconducted in Qatar from January to June 2005to compare the prevalence psychiatric morbidityby using the General Health Questionnaire(GHQ-12) among 195 mothers of mentallydisabled children selected as a study group, and139 mothers with non-disabled children as acomparison group.Results: The prevalence of psychiatric morbiditywas higher among mothers caring for mentallydisabled children than mothers of non-disabledchildren in the comparison group. The study foundthe following predictors for developing psychiatricmorbidity: having more than one disabled child,mentally disabled child less than 5 years of age,disabled child is first in order of birth, presence ofchronic illness in addition to the mental disability,and presence of other type of disability besides themental one. We also found that educating mothersin caring for a disabled child has a protective effecton developing psychiatric morbidity.Conclusion: Mothers of mentally disabled childrenhave poorer psychological health than mothers ofnon-disabled children. Shifting the rehabilitationservices from child-centered to family-centeredservices through providing supportive services isrecommended.