¹Anjaly K S,²Dr. P.T.Baburaj

¹Research scholar, School of Behavioural Sciences MG University

²Professor & Director, School of Behavioural Sciences MG University

Background: The present study investigated the quality of life of 100 mothers of children with intellectual disability in selected special schools of Kottayam district, Kerala.

Materials & methods: A descriptive survey was conducted among 100 mothers of children attending special schools of Kottayam district from February 2020 to September 2020. The Quality of Life was measured by using WHO QOL Malayalam questionnaire, after obtaining Institutional Ethics Committee Approval and after seeking informed consent from the participants. . The purpose of the study was explained, socio demographic data collected by interview and the data recorded. The mothers filled up the instrument and returned back to the investigator. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviations and appropriate parametric test such as independent t test for parametric data.

Results: Out of the 100 mothers studied, educational status of the mothers showed that 10 had primary education, 37 had high school education, 32 had higher secondary education and 21 graduates.; occupation of the mothers showed that , 18(18%) had Government job, 20 (20% ) had private job ,15(15%) were self employed and 47 (47%) were not employed. It was found that 95(95%) of children obtained financial assistance and other benefits from local self governing bodies. The Overall quality of life scores of mothers and financial assistance obtained from the local self governing bodies was studied .The overall QOL scores of mothers is influenced by the financial assistance obtained from local self governing bodies.(P=0.01, t= 2.51). The Overall QOL Score ranged from 2 to 130 with a mean of 69.93 and Standard Deviation of 20.13 Results shows that the highest mean value was obtained for Psychological Domain with a standard Deviation of 19.85 , the lowest mean value was obtained for social relationships domain with a mean value of 39.55 and a standard deviation of 26.30.

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VOLUME 04 ISSUE 12 December 2021