Coping of Mothers Involved in the Implementation of Parental Tasks Towards a Child with Epilepsy

Introduction: Motherhood of women raising children with epilepsy is a topic that has not yet received a wider study in Poland. Special attention should be paid to mothers who, assuming the role of primary caregiver of a sick child, often take on tasks and responsibilities beyond their capabilities. Research Aim: The aim of the research was to establish correlations between mothers’ involvement in tasks related to raising their child with epilepsy and their preferred coping strategies. Method: The research used the diagnostic survey method and respondents filled in a questionnaire. The material was collected using the following tools: the Parchomiuk and Kręcisz-Plis Parental Involvement Scale, Carver's Inventory to Assess Coping with Stress (Mini-COPE) adapted by Juczyński and Ogińska-Bulik and a questionnaire of our own construction. Results: The parental involvement of mothers of children with epilepsy is average, both in the dimension of realization, motivation and satisfaction. Respondents' fulfillment of parental obligations, lower than their level of motivation, suggests that they are willing and ready to fulfill their maternal obligations by caregiving and upbringing their child, but they are not always able to engage in fulfilling them to the extent they would like to. Adaptation strategies such as Active Coping, Acceptance and Seeking Support were among the coping strategies most frequently used by the surveyed mothers. Conclusion: The existence of positive relationships between the parental commitment of the surveyed women and the use of adaptive strategies of coping with difficult situations was confirmed in some of the analyzed areas.