Mothers' perception of stress involved in parenting a diabetic child

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate mothers' perception of stress involved in parenting an insulin-dependent diabetic child. A convenience sample of 25 mothers of diabetic children attending the out-patients diabetes clinic was sel~cted. A descriptive survey design was utilized and quantitative data was collected by using Parenting Stress Index (PSI) as tool for questionnaire. The findings in this study demonstrate that mothers of diabetic children are stressed as a result of parenting their children with this condition and also, mothers perceived that there were stresses involved as a result of having a diabetic child. As a result of this study recommendations for practice and suggestions for further research are given.