Parents of Children with Special Needs Adapting to the Pandemic Context

The main objective of this research was to investigate mental health and pandemic adaptation strategies, making a comparison between parents who have children with special needs and parents who do not have. Based on the results professionals like social workers, psychologists, counselors can help improve the life quality of these families in this particular context. Theoretical perspective. Based on the transactional model of stress integrated into the difficulties faced by parents with children with disabilities, this study shows how parents' psychological well-being changes when they face stressful events that could endanger their children's health. Methodology. Participants (N = 79) completed the SHAI scale that measures health anxiety, the FCOR scale for coronavirus fear, and the CERQ scale with the nine subscales to identify coping strategies they used during this period. Results and conclusions. Parents who do not have children with disabilities have a higher level of coronavirus fear. When it comes to coping, parents with children with disabilities focus on strategies such as catastrophizing and blaming others while parents without children with disabilities resort to acceptance, ruminating, positive refocusing, refocusing on planning, positive reassessment, and putting the problem in perspective. There are no significant differences between the two groups in terms of health anxiety.


Keywords: pandemic context, children with disabilities, coping strategies, health anxiety, coronavirus fear