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. 2022 Feb;52(2):508-521.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-021-04956-3. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Mental Health and Health Behaviour Changes for Mothers of Children with a Disability: Effectiveness of a Health and Wellbeing Workshop

Helen M Bourke-Taylor  1 , Kahli S Joyce  2 , Sarah Grzegorczyn  3 , Loredana Tirlea  4
Affiliations

Mental Health and Health Behaviour Changes for Mothers of Children with a Disability: Effectiveness of a Health and Wellbeing Workshop

Helen M Bourke-Taylor et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

Healthy Mothers Healthy Families (HMHF) is a program that educates and empowers mothers of children with disabilities to improve health behaviours. Outcomes were investigated in this study. A pre, post-test design was implemented using online questionnaires including the Health promoting activities scale (HPAS) and the Depressional anxiety stress scales (DASS). Mothers (N = 71) experienced improvements in HPAS scores, p < .001. Mental health symptomatology reduced: depressive symptoms (p = .005), Anxiety symptoms (p = .005) and stress (p = .002). Wellbeing improved (p < .001). Mothers also reported that their child with a disability experienced an increase in quality of life (p = .042). Mothers' lifestyles goals improved: managing stress; dietary changes; leisure; self-perception and others. HMHF is an effective intervention with improved health status and outcomes for mothers.

Keywords: Childhood disability; Mental health; Mothers; Wellbeing.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of participants recruitment in the study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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