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Stress is experienced when a person tries to maintain stability in the face of life change but is not able to meet the adaptive demands of change. This can be especially true for the parents who has a cerebral palsy childs who needs long term rare, where parents, are the primary source of care and responsibility. Successful coping leads to maintenance of the parents role and this has an effect on the health status of the child. This descriptive study was attempted to identify stress factors, levels and helpful coping patterns for parents who must take care of cerebral palsy children. Data were collected from 43 subjects who were parents of children diagnosed with cerebral palsy The informations gathered from March 25, 1994 to April 14, 1994 by means of structured questionnaires were analyzed. Two instruments were used to collect the data 1) Lee’’s stress questionnaire consisted of 33 stress factors and measured by four point Likert scale. 2) Modified Chronic Health Inventory for parents: The modified CHIP included 43 items of coping methods with four point Likert scale. The results of this study were as follows: 1) Stress items could have a maximum score of three points, for a total possible score of 132 points. The mean score for the total was 92.02 points. The item mean score was 2.85 points showing that the parents were experiencing moderate to much stress. 2) The items with the highest stress items were 16 items. The stress items with the lowest mean scores were 10 items. 3) Of the stress categories: The highest stress category was related to changes in the illness status of the child and difficulty in taking rare of the child. The second stressful category was related to the prognosis of the child’’s condition. The least stress was noticed to social-personal relationships and the responsibility of the care givers. 4) Items measuring coping in the parents had a maximum score of three points each with a total possible roping score of 172 points. The mean score for the total was 103,9 paints. The item mean score was 2.42 points indicating that there were responses of little helpful to moderately helpful on each coping pattern. 5) The most helpful coping items were 7 items. The least helpful coping items were 2 items. 6) Effectiveness of the coping for each patterns was examined : Understanding the illness condition from communication with parents of children with the same condition and consultation with the medical team was the most helpful coping pattern. Family’’s coorperation and integration and optimism were a moderately helpful coping pattern. Social support psychological stability and self esteem were the least helpful toping pattern. In conclusion, the highest stress for parents of children with cerebropalsy was found to be very stressful changes in the illness of the child and to taking care of a child who is suffering. The parents were helped by the coping methods using understanding of the illness condition through consultation with the medical learn and communication with parents in the same situation. Based on the knowledge, care could develop intervention strategies appropriate for them, help them to develop their effective coping patterns, and give support them in the process of coping with their stress.
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