Assessment of Stressors and Coping Mechanisms Among Mothers of Hearing Impaired Children in South-Western Nigeria

<p><em><span lang="TR">Stress is a major health-relatedproblem among the mothers of hearing impaired persons. There is however dearth of imformation about the level of stress and coping mechanisms among this population especially in urban settings in Nigeria. This study, therefore focuses on the evaluation of categories of stressors and coping mechanisms among the mothers of hearing impaired children in South -Western Nigeria. The study was a cross sectional survey which relied on social learning theory. 320 respondents comprising mothers of hearing impaired students participated in the study using pursposive sampling technique to select the participants from special schools across the senatorial districts within Ogun,Ondo and Lagos states. Data were elicited from the respondents through structured questionnaire that consisted 27 items. The analyses were carried out with descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequency distribution tables and mean. Secondary data were obtained from government publications, schools records and internet materials that are relevant to the scientific investigation. The findings revealed that majority of mothers of hearing impaired students have high level of knowledge about the causes of the disability and they experienced a set of child-related stressors arising from theinability of the chidren to understand simple communication, inability to do domestic chores and their vulnerability to sexual abuse among others. The findings also revealed that mothers who are separated from their husbands suffered<span>  </span>maximum stress showing significant relationship between <span> </span>stress level and their marital status while they adoptedcomplaint, annoyance,avoidance and seeking social support as coping strategies to deal with the emanated physcological processes associated with the stressors. The study, however profered appropriate remedies such as social support, enlightenment, education, empowerment of women and proper funding of special schools to assist these mothers and children. </span></em></p>