Stress Experienced by Parents of Children with Neurodevelopmental Delay (NDD): A Correlation with Various Factors

A bstract Background: Families of children with disabilities have to face the realities of their diagnosis, make significant adjustments to their care, and most importantly, future expectations with regards to their development. Consequently, these parents experience stress that may influence their compliance with therapy, and consequently, their rehabilitation outcomes. Objective: To study the level of stress experienced by parents of children with neurodevelopmental delay (NDD) and identify the problems of concern of these parents. Materials and Methods: Parents of 98 children with NDD who met the inclusion criteria were asked to fill the parental stress scale forms and return them to the primary investigator. The forms were screened for completeness, and the individual stress score was calculated. The collected data were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: All the parents of children with NDD experienced stress [44.03 (±10.17)]. The differential stress levels were as follows: moderate stress [43.24 (±5.75)], followed by severe [30.05 (±3.34)] and mild [59.47 (±4.36)] stress. Stress significantly correlated positively with the age of the children and the number of domains of delay. Overall, 69% of the parents were concerned about the motor delays while 31% were concerned about other associated problems. Conclusion: All parents experienced differing levels of stress due to child-related factors.