Abstract:
The overall wellbeing of children with disabilities is greatly influenced by parental
mental health. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and the severity
of depression, anxiety and stress among the parents of children with disabilities in
Bangladesh, and to investigate the socio demographic factors associated with them. A
cross sectional study design was used to collect data from 220 parents at CRP-Savar
using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Results indicated that
43.6% of parents had extremely severe anxiety, 43.2% extremely severe depression,
and 61.8% severe stress. Significantly more extreme anxiety (62.3%) and extreme
depression (63.1%) was observed among female parents as compared to males. The
greatest prevalence of extremely severe anxiety (52.9%) and depression (48.6%) was
found among families in the lowest income range (10,000–20,000 BDT), which
emerged as a major factor of financial strain. The results indicate an urgent requirement
for targeted mental health interventions, financial support systems, and culturally
appropriate family centered care programs. Addressing these multisystem challenges
necessitated joint efforts of healthcare professionals, policymakers and community
organizations to engineer resilience and longer lasting support structures for affected
families.
Keywords: Bangladesh, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Parents, Children with
Disabilities.
Description:
This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Speech and Language Therapy, Bangladesh Health Professions Institute, Faculty of Medicine, the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
