Abstract:

Mental insufficiency, like other chronic diseases, is a significant disorder that leaves permanent insufficiency in a person, which requires lifelong observation, control, care, treatment and rehabilitation, and is a problem that affects all family members and family life in economic, social, emotional, behavioral and cognitive aspects.The research was conducted to identify the difficulties experienced by families with mental disabilities, from December 25, 2006 to February 25, 2007 to the family of children with mental retardation from the age of 4 to 17 who participated in the study. The data was collected face-to-face with the survey form created by the researchers. Percentage analysis was made using the SPSS program.    The average age of children is 9.4±0.4 years, 61.8 percent men 38.2 percent girls, 1.8 percent don’t study, 49.1 percent receive special education. The study was conducted in consultation with 38 mothers and 17 fathers and found that the ages of the participating parents varied between 29-55, 38.2% of the mothers were primary-school fathers 49.1% were high school graduates and 94.5% of the mothers were domestic females and 52.7% of the fathers were workers. 40.0% of the families found that they were unpleasant from the perspective of society, 67.3% were concerned about the future of their children, 52.7% were trouble communicating with their wife, 45.5% were trouble treating their children, 49.1% were not supported by the social environment, 63.6% were uninterested with other children, and 43.6% were trouble bringing additional expenses to the family. According to these findings, it was recommended that families, as well as children with mental disabilities, need professional support, and that health care team members should take it into consideration, and that family-centered care should be emphasized.

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