Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: The birth of a Handicapped child cause many problems and stress for their families especially mothers. The current research is aimed to determine the any differences in quality of life and psychological capital of mothers of healthy and handicaped children. Methods: this study was a descriptive- correlational research. The statistical population of this study comprized of mothers of handicaped childern subsidiary to Ahar city rehabilition center. The ststistical sample of the study were 60 mothers of handicaped children who were selected using convenient sampling method and 60 other mothers with normal healthy children who selected with random sampling method and matching with their conterparts in aspects of age educational level and socio-economic status. The data gathering were conducted using self administered well knowen and psychometrically robust generic quality of life (SF-36) and Psychological Capital (PCQ-24) Questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential data analysis were conducted using SPSS ver 19 (Mean SD) and multivariate- analysis of variance. Results: The results indicated that there is a statistically significant difference between quality of life and psycholigical capital scores of two group of mothers. Mothers with handicped children had relatively lower scores in these regards. So that mean and standard deviation of psychological capital and quality of life were 46/30±6/1, 1519/16 ±385/37 in mothers of handicapped children and 53/13±12/7, 2029/25±572/25 in mothers of healthy children. Conclusion: It seems that quality of life and psychological capital of mothers with handicaped children are lower than mothers of normal children and thus it is imperative that these important rehabilitative constructs be fortified in these mothers .