Attitudes of parents towards behavioural management of children with intellectual disability

Abstract

Purpose: The study was designed to understand the attitudes of parents of children with intellectual disabilities, with regard to the management of problematic behaviour of their children, and to identify whether the mothers or the fathers had more positive attitudes. Method: A structured interview schedule was developed. Convenience sampling was used to select 74 parents (30 fathers and 44 mothers) of children with intellectual disability. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. For descriptive statistics, the frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviations were calculated. Inferential statistics included t-test and ANOVA. Results: Indications were that parents of children with intellectual disability had positive attitudes towards their children. While mothers had more positive attitudes than fathers, there was no significant difference between the negative attitudes of fathers and mothers towards their children with intellectual disability. Conclusion: It is recommended that further research should be conducted to identify the elements that influence the attitudes of parents of children with intellectual disability.