Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Mother’s Mental Health having Children with Cerebral Palsy: Mediating Role of Family Support

Abstract

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of disorders which affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture known as motor disability in childhood. Caregivers of children with cerebral palsy suffer from a substantial psychosocial burden. Mothers are the most common caregivers of children with cerebral palsy.  The main objective of this study was to find out the relationship among emotional intelligence, Family support and mental well-being along with mediating role of family support between emotional intelligence and mental well- being of mothers having cerebral palsy children. 100 mothers with the age (M=35.79 and SD 5.93) were recruited and convenient sampling strategy was used to collect responses. The Self-Report Emotional Intelligence scale (Wong & Law, 2004), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al. 1998) and Warwick-Edinburg Mental Well-being Scale (Stewart- Brown et al. 2006) scales along with demographic Performa were used. Inferential statistics analysis was administered on quantitative data. Results revealed that there is significant positive correlation among emotional intelligence Family Support and mental well-being in mothers of children with cerebral palsy. Mediation analysis revealed that family support is a significant positive mediator in the relationship between emotional intelligence and mental well-being in mothers of children with cerebral palsy. Finding of this research will be helpful for families and mothers who have children with special need to cooperate with each other through psychological management, motivational strategies and psycho-education.