A research on mothers of children in need of special education with psychosocial approach

In this study, it has been aimed to evaluate psychosocially the living problems of their families and especially their mothers of children who need special education and to present the solution model which is practicable in the field of special education in Turkey. In this context, at this research, it were compared psychological resilience, perceived social support levels and family needs of mothers having children who need special education and mothers' psychological well-being, social well-being and life satisfaction levels; it was examined effect of mothers' family needs, perceived social support and psychological resilience levels on the psychological well-being, social well-being levels and life satisfaction. The research was carried out at the official and private special education schools and institutions affiliated to Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education in the spring term of 2016-2017 academic year with the permission of the Governorship of Istanbul. A total of 402 mothers having children with need of special education participated in the study. Data collection tools used in the research are the Family Needs Survey, Family Support Scale, Psychological Resilience Scales for Adults, Scales of Psychological Well-Being, Social Wellbeing Scale, and Life Satisfaction Scale; and Family Information Form developed by the researcher in order to obtain information about the socio-demographic characteristics of children who need special education, their mothers and their families. Data were analyzed by using SPSS 24.0 program. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was performed in order to determine whether the scores obtained from the Life Satisfaction, Psychological Well-Being, Social Well-Being, Psychological Resilience, Family Support and Family Needs Scales used in the research showed normal distribution; nonparametric tests were used to make statistical evaluation because the distribution of the scores obtained from the scales did not show normal distribution. The difference between the two groups was investigated by Mann Whitney U test. It was made analysis with Kruskal Wallis H test for the comparisons between groups in case of more than two groups. When Kruskal Wallis H test showed statistically significant result, the Mann Whitney U test was applied to determine the difference between these findings. Relationships between Life Satisfaction, Psychological Well-Being, Social Well-Being, Psychological Resilience, Family Support, and Family Needs Survey Scales were analyzed by using Spearman Correlation analysis. Analyzes related to predictions were examined by linear regression analysis. In addition, data were evaluated with descriptive statistical methods; in this context, the number and percentage distributions of the data are examined. All these statistical procedures were applied in the analysis of subscales of Psychological Well-Being Scales, Psychological Resilience Scales for Adults, Family Support Scale and Family Needs Survey. In this study, it has been found to be higher levels of life satisfaction of mothers who have higher levels of psychological well-being, higher levels of social well-being, higher levels of psychological resilience, higher perceived social support levels, and lower family needs levels. It has been determined to be higher levels of psychological well-being of mothers who have higher levels of social well-being, higher levels of psychological resilience, higher perceived social support levels, and lower family needs levels. In addition, it has been determined to be higher levels of social well-being of mothers who have higher levels of psychological resilience, higher perceived social support levels, and lower family needs levels. Also, it has been found that mothers with higher levels of perceived social support and lower levels of family needs are at higher levels of psychological resilience and that the mothers with higher levels of perceived social support have lower family needs levels. As a result of the study, it has been found that mothers' psychological well-being levels explain 14% of the mothers' levels of life satisfaction and the mothers' social well-being levels explain 13% of mothers' levels of life satisfaction; it has been determined that the combination of mothers' psychological well-being levels and social well-being levels predict 18% of mothers' levels of life satisfaction. In addition, it was found that mothers' psychological resilience levels explain 17% of mothers' levels of life satisfaction, perceived social support levels explain 26% of mothers' levels of life satisfaction, and that family needs levels explain 14% of mothers' satisfaction levels; it was found that the combination of mothers' psychological resilience levels, perceived social support levels and family needs levels predict 31% of mothers' levels of life satisfaction. Moreover, it was found that mothers' psychological resilience levels explain 30% of mothers' psychological well-being levels, mothers' perceived social support levels explain 18% of the mothers' psychological well-being levels, and family needs levels explain 13% of the mothers' psychological well-being; it was determined that the combination of mothers' psychological resilience levels, perceived social support levels and family needs levels predict 35% of the psychological well-being of the mothers. In addition, it was found that mothers' psychological resilience levels explain 18% of the mothers' social well-being levels, mothers' perceived social support levels explain 19% of the mothers' social well-being levels, and family needs levels explain 9% of the mothers' social well-being; it was found that the combination of mothers' psychological resilience levels, perceived social support levels and family needs levels predict 35% of the social well-being of the mothers. In addition, prepared by the researcher, the Family Information Form which aims to obtain information about the socio-demographic characteristics of children who are in need of special education, their mothers and their families has been analyzed. It has been examined whether there is a statistically significant relationship between information obtained from the Family Information Form and mothers' life satisfaction, psychological well-being, social well-being, psychological resilience, perceived social support, family needs levels, and subscales of Psychological Well-Being Scales, Psychological Resilience Scales, Family Support Scale and Family Needs Survey. In this context, the age of the mothers, mothers' and their spouses' education levels, whether the mothers work, the duration of marriage, the number of children, the family income levels, whether there are the other family members such as grandmother and grandfather living with the family, whether there is someone to help care for the child in need of special education, birth year of the child who needs special education, gender of the child, age of diagnosis of the child, child's degree of disability were analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it was observed that mothers' and their spouses' education levels, family income levels, and whether there is someone to help care for the child in need of special education are the features generally related to the scales; and these have statistically significant correlations with the scales researched in the study. In the Family Needs Survey Scale, according to the order of importance mothers expressed, the most important 5 requirements of the family were analyzed. As the first need of the family, mothers reported "much better and more training" with 14.9%, "speech and language therapy education" with 13.4%, "increasing the number of training hours given in the Private Special Education and Rehabilitation Center" with 9.2%. The analysis shows that mothers are to evaluate that the most important family needs are the education, health, social, cultural, sporting and similar needs of their children who need special education. In addition, the mothers stated their own and their families' psychological, social and economic needs as well. Having a child in need of special education is an issue that should be handled in a multi-faceted way, such as psychological, social and economic; in this context, both in theoretical and scientific fields and in the field of application, this issue should be handled and evaluated biopsychosocial as holistic with multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach. In this context, in this study, in Turkey for children who need special education, for their families and especially for their mothers, the suggestion which handles this issue as biopsychosocial and holistic with multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach has been presented; through this psychosocial approach, in the context of the strengths perspective, it will be possible to evaluate and support children with need special education, mother, father, siblings, all members of the family, extended family members and the family system as a whole and multi-faceted by dealing with physical, psychological, social, economic and many other aspects. Keywords: Children Who Need Special Education and Their Mothers, Life Satisfaction, Psychological Well-Being, Social Well-Being, Psychological Resilience, Family Support, Social Support, Family Needs