LONELINESS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT OF MOTHERS OF CHRONICALLY ILL CHILDREN

To address the problem of loneliness and social support in mothers of chronically ill children, we interviewed 90 mothers, among them 33 whose children suffered from a chronic life-threatening disease and 57 whose children had a chronic illness. In addition, we conducted home interviews with a control group of 92 mothers of healthy children. In responding to questions on the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, the mothers of children with either chronic life-threatening or chronic illness revealed higher loneliness than the mothers of healthy children. Larger social networks and perceived greater support was reported by mothers whose children had a chronic life-threatening disease. In this group, no significant relationship was found between the variables of loneliness and social support; whereas, in the group with chronically ill children, and in the controls, a significant inverse relationship between the two variables was noted. Mothers of children with chronic life-threatening diseases may become subject to higher existential loneliness. © 1991.