ABSTRACT:
Every child born into the world is a new ray of possibility and hope. Children with sound body and mind are essential for the future development of the country. Children with sound body and mind are essential for the future development of the country. Many children around the globe are facing physical and and mental disabilities. The present study was aimed to assess the quality of life among parents of children with physical and mental disabilities, compare the quality of life among parents of children with physical and mental disabilities and also to find out the association between the quality of life among parents of physically disabled and mentally disabled with their selected demographic variables. A comparative descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted at selected special schools Mangaluru. The sample was 100 parents of physically and mentally disabled children who met inclusion criteria. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample. Formal written permission from principals of the selected schools and informed consent from the parents were obtained prior to data collection process. Data was collected by administering Demographic proforma and WHOQOL BREF scale. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Ethical permission was obtained from the ethical committee before conducting the study. The result revealed that overall mean percentage of quality of life among parents of physically disabled children was 76.092 (98.92±2.68) which was much higher than mean percentage 56.292 (73.18±2.59) in mentally disabled children. There is significant difference (calculated ‘t’ value 48.82, P>0.05) in quality of life among parents between physically disabled and mentally disabled children. Overall mean percentage in parents of physically disabled children was 78.72 with mean and standard deviation of 78.72±2.68 which was higher than overall mean percentage in parents of mentally disabled children, which was 68.96 with mean and standard deviation of 68.96±2.59. Area wise analysis revealed that the highest mean percentage was in the area of physical domain in physically disabled which is 84.27 with mean and standard deviation of 24.44±1.37 and in mentally disabled it is 59.24 with the mean and standard deviation of17.18±1.55.In the area of psychological domain the mean percentage was 69.44with mean and standard deviation of17.36±0.96 among parents of physically disabled, which is slightly higher than mean percentage 69.04 with mean and standard deviation of 17.26±1.4 among parents of mentally disabled children. In the area of social relationship domain, the mean percentage was 82.61with mean and standard deviation of 10.74±1.01 among parents of physically disabled children, which was higher than mean percentage 74.92with mean and standard deviation of 9.74±1.01among parents of mentally disabled children. In environmental domain, the mean percentage was 79.33 with the mean and standard deviation of 26.18±1.52 among parents of physically disabled children which was higher than the mean percentage 75.09 with the mean and standard deviation of 68.96±2.59 among parents of mentally disabled children. There is no significant association between the quality of life among parents between physically disabled and mentally disabled children and their selected demographic variables.