A comparison of mothers of children with different disability groups and mothers of children with normal development in term of emotion regulation, family harmony and bornout degrees

The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between family adjustment, burnout levels and cognitive emotion regulation of mothers who have children with special needs. The sample of the study consists of 180 mothers living in Elazig who have a child aged 0-25 with a diagnosis of autism, Down syndrome, specific learning, language, and speech difficulties, and physical or mental disabilities and 30 mothers with normally developing children aged 0-15 years who were reached by the researcher and who accepted to participate. Demographic Information Form, Family Adjustment Scale, Maslach Burnout Scale and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Scale were applied to the participants. In the study, independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA analysis were conducted to examine whether the level of family adjustment and burnout differed according to demographic variables. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationships between the variables. Hierarchical regression analysis method was used to determine the variables predicting family adjustment. As a result of the analyses, it was determined that the mothers' having a child with special needs and the type of diagnosis of the child did not make a significant difference in the level of Family adjustment and burnout. According to the results of the correlation analysis of the study, the Family adjustment of mothers with children with special needs is positively related to cognitive emotion regulation and burnout levels. Hierarchical regression analysis results, Personal achievement sub-dimension of burnout and blaming others and refocusing on the plan sub-dimension of cognitive emotion regulation were found to be significant predictors of family adjustment of mothers with children with special needs. Findings were discussed according to the relevant literature, and conclusions and recommendations were presented. Keywords: family adjustment, burnout, cognitive emotion regulation, special needs