Screening of psychological symptoms in parents of individuals with special needs receiving special educational support

In this study, the psychological symptoms of the parents of individuals with special needs were examined. Th esample of the study consisted of parents of children with special needs and parents of children with normal development. 289 participants took part in the study. The research was carried out with the parents of the individuals who are receiving education in special education and rehabilitation centers living in Antalya and the parents of the individuals with normal development living in Antalya. Data in the study were obtained with Demographic Information Form, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory and Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R). The analysis of the data obtained in the research was made with the SPSS 22.0 program. In the study, Independent Sample Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal Wallis Test statistic were used since parents' education, age, employment status, income level requires more than two comparisons. According to the analysis of the scores obtained from the scales used in the research, it was seen that having a child with special needs did not have a significant effect on the anxiety level of the parents, but having a child with special needs negatively affected the parents' symptom screening test (SCL-90-R) scores and depression levels. KEYWORDS: Depression, Parent, Special Needs