The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parental stress, social support, and coping behavior on burnout among mothers caring for children with cerebral palsy.

Participants in this cross-sectional, descriptive study were 185 mothers who completed a self-report structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, correlation and multiple linear regression analyses with IBM SPSS Win 22 program.

Parental stress and coping behavior were strong predictors of burnout among mothers of children with cerebral palsy. These variables explained 50.0% of the variance in burnout. Social support was not a predictor of burnout. A higher level of burnout was associated with higher levels of parental stress and lower levels of social support and coping behavior.

Mothers of children with cerebral palsy are vulnerable to burnout. These results show that effective strategies for reducing parental stress and improving positive coping behavior are needed to reduce burnout in these mothers.

The purpose of this study was to develop an empowerment program as a nursing intervention for mothers who care for a child with cerebral palsy at home and to determine the effects of the program on those mothers' self efficacy, coping behavior and burden.

An non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used in this study. An Empowerment program was developed based on Dunst & Trivette's model. Using the program, the study was carried out from Dec. 13, 2003 to Jan. 17, 2004, mothers whose children, aged 1 to 6, were outpatients of the Dept. of Rehabilitation Medicine, at P University Hospital or registered at educational institutions for early disabled children. The experimental group of subjects were included in the new empowerment program which was held for two and half hours every week for 6 times.

After treatment with the Empowerment Program, the experimental group was found to be significantly increased in score for self efficacy(t=4.55, p<.01), coping behavior(t=5.54, p<.001), objective burden(t=-3.96, p<.01) and subjective burden(t=-5.05, p<.01), in comparison to the control group.

The Empowerment Program is very effective in increasing self efficacy and coping behavior of mothers having a child with cerebral palsy and decreasing their burden. Finally, this study would recommend that an empowerment program should be extended to community facilities such as public health offices and welfare centers.