فعالية برنامج إرشاد جمعي لتخفي الضغوط النفسية لدي أمهات ذوي متلازمة داون

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to find out the general psychological traits among the mothers of children with Down’s syndrome at Al-Wafaa School for Skills Development at Sharja City for Humanitarian Services, and the effectiveness of group counseling program in reducing this stress. The population of the study comprises (245) mothers, while the sample consists of (30) respondents from the specified population. To achieve the set goals, the researcher applied the experimental method with two independent groups: an experimental group and a controlling group; the former has pretest and posttest probabilities. The data has been collected via a scale for measuring psychological stress designed by the researcher. The group counseling program (independent variable), also prepared by the researcher, has been applied to the experimental group. This has been done in 14 sessions (one session per week; each session takes around 60- 90 minutes. The data has been analyzed via Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), with a number of statistical methods: Mann Whitney U Test, One-sample T- Test, and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test. The research findings indicate high rates of psychological stress among the mothers of children diagnosed with Down’s syndrome at Al-Wafaa School for Skills Development at Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services. Also, the results show the effectiveness of the counseling program in reducing psychological stress among the experimental group. At the end of the study, the researcher proposed a number of recommendations based on the results of the present research, and suggestions for further future studies.