"God Chose Me to Go Through This Experience": Religious and Emotional Perspectives of Bedouin Mothers in Israel Coping with a Child with Special Needs.

Résumé

This study examined the coping strategies of 40 mothers of children with special needs within Israeli Bedouin society, focusing on the prediction between mothers' narcissistic characteristics and their religious coping. The findings revealed two distinct maternal perspectives on a child's disability: (1) a pessimistic perspective (perceiving the disability as divine punishment), and (2) an optimistic perspective (perceiving the disability as divine gift/opportunity). The pessimistic reactions to the child's diagnosis included shock, fear and sorrow, while the optimistic view included feelings of love, caring and acceptance of the child. Regression analyses indicated that higher levels of narcissism predicted stronger negative religious coping but were unrelated to positive religious coping. Understanding the combination of religious and emotional perspectives contributing to Bedouin mothers' coping may help practitioners design and implement culturally sensitive interventions for a wide range of traditional populations.