The impact of caring for children with mental retardation on families asperceived by mothers in Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: to assess how families perceive the positive and negative impacts of caring for a child with mental retardation. methods: the quantitative descriptive study was conducted from january to august 2007 and comprised 54 families attending a private day-care centre for children with special needs in karachi, pakistan. the kansas inventory of parental perceptions was used to assess mothers' perceptions on the impact of caring for a child with mental retardation. positive contributions, social comparisons with others, understanding of disability and perception of control were assessed. spss 16 was used for statistical analysis. results: mothers reported positive contribution to family life as a result of caring for a child with mental retardation (mean: 2.95±0.37). there was an acceptance of the situation and a trend towards upward favourable comparison with other families (mean: 3.13±0.07). conclusions: contrary to earlier studies exploring the impact of caring for a child with disabilities having largely focused on negative contributions, the study highlights some positive contributions.