1. STRESS AMONG PARENTS WITH
EPILEPTIC CHILDREN
Aswani Yatheendran and Yachna Pradhan , MSW 2nd Year, Christ University,
Dr. Sheeja Remani B Karalam, Associate Professor, Christ University Bangalore

2. Introduction
 Stress is a feeling that's created when we react to
particular events. It's the body's way of rising to a
challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with
focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness.
Stress is defined as any physical or emotional demand
that you feel unable to handle.

3.  Parental Stress is a set of process that lead to
aversive psychological and physiological reactions
arising from attempts to adapt to the demands of
parenthood. (Deckhard,2004)
 Parental stress is defined as a stress resulting from
parental dysfunctional behaviors or behavioral
characteristics of the child. (Abidin,1995)

4.  All parents experience stress and difficulties at
times, but raising children with special needs often
face additional and unique challenges in care giving.
 Epilepsy/seizures affects normal routine.

5.  Objective: To analyse the stress level of the parents
with children having epilepsy.

6. Hypothesis
 H1: There is a significant difference in the stress
level of fathers and mothers with children having
epilepsy.
 Ho: There is no significant difference in the stress
level of fathers and mothers with children having
epilepsy

7. Methodology
 Universe: Parents with children of age 10-15yrs
undergoing treatment for epilepsy from the past 5yrs.
 Sample: 20 fathers and 20 mothers.
 Parental stress scale

8. Result and findings:
 The data was collected from 40 parents i.e., 20
mothers and 20 fathers. And another inclusion
criterion was those parents of children with epilepsy
and also who was undergoing treatment from the
past 5 years in “X” private hospital. This study has
revealed that there is a significant difference
between the stress level amongst fathers and
mothers of children with epilepsy.

9. Group Statistics
Sex N Mean Std.Deviation t sig
Stress
1(mother) 20 62.7000 3.97492 -2.159 .037
2(father) 20 65.2500 3.47737 -2.159 .037

10. Stress Level
65.5
65
64.5
64
63.5
63 Stress Level
62.5
62
61.5
61
Mother Father

11. Stress Difference
Mother
4.7
4.5
4.25 4.2
3.95 3.85 4 4
3.8
3.4
2.853 2.85 2.8
2.25 2.2
Q2 Q3 Q5 Q7 Q10 Q11 Q13 Q17

12. Conclusion
 The conclusion of my study is fathers with children
having epilepsy deals with higher amount of stress
level compared to mothers.
 Studies supports the stress that fathers experience
when caring for a child with epilepsy. The results
give insight into the unique family stress that fathers
experience as a result of the interaction between the
social context of a child with epilepsy and the
family's coping patterns (Pei-Fan Mu, 2005).

13. Reference
 Berry, J. O., &Jones, W.H. (1995). The Parental Stress Scale: Initial
psychometric evidence. Journal of social and personal
relationships, 12, 463-472
 Childhood Age Epilepsy and Family ,Cicek Hocaoglu and Ayse Koroglu,Rize
University, Turkey
 Depression, anxiety and quality of life in parents of children with epilepsy, R.
Lv, et.al, Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, vol 120, issue 5,pages 335–
341, November 2009
 Family factors and psychopathology in children with
epilepsy,Roos, Rodenburg, et.al, Epilepsy & Behavior vol6 (2005) pg 488–
503
 Kidshealth.org
 Mental health week, 1-7-
2011http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=2-70-71
 Psycho-social Impact of Epilepsy and Issues of Stigma, Hung TF
Anchor, medical bulletin, vol14, No.5, may 2009
 An overview of epilepsy with a focus on the effects and implications of the
condition for children and their families, salford.ac.ukVA Featherstone -
2009 - usir.salford.ac.uk

14. Thank you