Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Stratton-Gadke, Kasee K.

Committee Member

Gadke, Daniel L.

Committee Member

Wei, Tianlan

Committee Member

Justice, Cheryl

Date of Degree

8-6-2021

Original embargo terms

Visible to MSU only for 2 years

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

School Psychology

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.S.)

College

College of Education

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Foundations

Department

Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Foundations

Abstract

The current study aimed to focus on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms in parents who have a child diagnosed with a rare genetic syndrome called CHARGE Syndrome. While previous studies have investigated related factors to parental PTSD (Reda & Hartshorne, 2008; Wulffaert et al., 2009), this study was one of the first to focus on parental PTSD symptomology and possible traumatic experiences related to CHARGE (e.g., medical complications). Specific concerns related to PTSD addressed in the current study included trauma histories, the number of surgeries a child underwent, and parent stress levels. One hundred and ninety-seven parents completed surveys that met inclusion criteria for the study. Findings indicated that 48% of parents showed signs of PTSD based on reported symptomology. Additionally, higher parent stress levels were found to be contributed to greater symptomology presentation. Overall outcomes of the study demonstrate that PTSD and parent stress levels may affect parents' abilities to adequately provide the needed emotional support and care for their children with CHARGE Syndrome without support. This study paves the way for additional research in this area to focus on the screening and development of treatment resources for parents of children with CHARGE Syndrome. Future directions and limitations were discussed in detail.

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