author(s)
Jincy John and Dr. Gandhimathi M

abstract
Mentally challenged children have the insufficient development of intellectual skills. The children suffering from mental disability are considered as burden by most of the family members. The objectives of this study were to: (1) assess the existing level of Stress and coping among the mothers of mentally challenged children in selected special schools (2) correlate the Stress and Coping in mothers of mentally challenged children (3) associate the level of Stress and Coping with selected demographical variables. Method: This study was conducted in the 30 mothers of mentally challenged children in selected special schools, at Ernakulum District in Kerala. Each parent was evaluated using the Family Interview for Stress and Coping (FISC) in Mental Retarded. The results of the present study were found that mothers of mentally challenged children had moderate to severe level of stress and also positive correlation with level of stress and coping and education of mothers had association with stress and coping. The study findings were concluded that attempts should be made to investigate specific interventional strategies for coping the stress in mothers of mentally challenged children.