CURRENT PARENTAL STRESS IN MALTREATING AND NONMALTREATING FAMILIES OFCHILDREN WITH MULTIPLE DISABILITIES

Questionnaires were mailed to families of children with multiple disab ilities to investigate whether differences in parental perception of s tress and burden of care could be identified in those families who had previously been reported and substantiated as abusive or neglectful a s compared to those families who had not been so reported. Two hundred and fifty-seven parents completed Friedrich's revised version of Holr oyd's Questionnaire on Resources and Stress (QRS-F), an instrument des igned to measure stress and burden of care in families of children wit h disabilities. Twenty-five (9.7%) had previously substantiated maltre atment reports. Results suggest that a history of maltreatment is not related to the family's currently perceived stress levels as measured by the Friedrich scale. Implications of the results are discussed.