Coping is the use of cognitive and behavioral strategies to manage the demands of a situation when these are appraised as taxing or exceeding one’s resources or to reduce the negative emotions and conflict caused by stress(American Psychological Association). A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epilepsy and sleep disorders. A mentally disabled is characterized by below-average intelligence or mental ability and a lack of skills necessary for day-to-day living. People with intellectual disabilities can and do learn new skills, but they learn them more slowly. The study aimed to find the coping of parents with physically or mentally disabled child in different situations or occasions. The sample considered included a total of 35 parents with 18 females and 17 males were selected using purposive sampling. Coping Health Inventory for Parents (McCubbin, Patterson, Cauble, Wilson and Warwick, 1983) was used for data collection. The data was analyzed using frequency distribution, standard deviation and correlation. The result showed that the coping patterns were different based on their gender. The father were having a higher emotional disturbance as compared to that of the mother, they also had an unsatisfactory relationship to the chronically ill-child. Whereas, the mother had a higher level of relationship with the chronically ill-child. The result also showed that there was a significant correlation between the coping patterns of many families in different occasion.
STUDY ON COPING AMONG PARENTS WITH CHRONIC ILL CHILD