Mental Health and Health Behaviour Changes for Mothers of Children with a Disability: Effectiveness of a Health and Wellbeing Workshop

Healthy Mothers Healthy Families (HMHF) is a program that educates and empowers mothers of children with disabilities to improve health behaviours. Outcomes were investigated in this study. A pre, post-test design was implemented using online questionnaires including the Health promoting activities scale (HPAS) and the Depressional anxiety stress scales (DASS). Mothers (N = 71) experienced improvements in HPAS scores, p <.001. Mental health symptomatology reduced: depressive symptoms (p =.005), Anxiety symptoms (p =.005) and stress (p =.002). Wellbeing improved (p <.001). Mothers also reported that their child with a disability experienced an increase in quality of life (p =.042). Mothers’ lifestyles goals improved: managing stress; dietary changes; leisure; self-perception and others. HMHF is an effective intervention with improved health status and outcomes for mothers.