Family stress and self-efficacy in parents of children with special needs: The regulatory role of perceived social support

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the relationships between family stress, perceived support, and parental self-efficacy levels among Turkish parents of children with special needs. Methods: A total of 207 parents of children with special needs participated in this study. Pearson's correlation analysis was used to calculate the relationship between normally distributed scale scores, and Spearman's correlation analysis was used to calculate the relationship between non-normally distributed scale scores. In addition, this study examined the moderating role of perceived social support in the effect of parental self-efficacy on family stress. Regulatory variable analyses were conducted using Jamovi 2.3.28. Results: It was concluded that most of the participants in the study had a medium level of family stress, perceived support, and a high level of parental self-efficacy. In addition, when perceived family support was low, the change in parental self-efficacy did not affect family stress, whereas when perceived family support was high, the increase in parental self-efficacy increased the level of family stress. Conclusions: Based on these results, programs aimed at increasing the quality of social support and parenting quality of families should be planned and implemented.