A Review of Metacognitive Beliefs and Self-care of Parents of Children with Mental Disabilities

Disruption in metacognitive beliefs, including cognitive trust, positive beliefs about worry, negative beliefs about uncontrollability, and the need to control thoughts, can overshadow a person's attention to physical and mental health. Considering the high number of children with mental disabilities, the presence of these children in the family exerts various effects on different aspects of the lives of families and parents. Therefore, the level of self-care in these parents and factors (positive and negative emotions and metacognitive beliefs) that affect their self-care are paramount. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the metacognitive beliefs and self-care of parents of children with mental disabilities. A query was conducted on Scopus, Science Direct, Iranmedex, Springer, and ProQuest within the time frame of 2003-2022. After reviewing and summarizing the full text of the articles, 31 papers were selected. The findings pointed out that mental disability is a condition that is formed by various factors, such as attention disabilities, learning disabilities, and social disabilities, along with related behavioral problems. Parents of children with intellectual disabilities need special support, self-care, and guidance. Negative metacognitive beliefs may decrease confidence in one's own abilities, intensify stress, decrease motivation and energy, and destroy family relationships. On the other hand, positive metacognitive beliefs cause positive dealing with challenges, self-control, and self-acceptance, helping parents achieve high self-care in this regard. Parents who believe that healthy eating and taking care of the mother's physical and mental health during pregnancy can accelerate the improvement of their children's health. They pay more attention to this issue and will consider preventive approaches before birth as an essential part of their care. Parents who believe that appropriate educational methods can improve their behavior towards their children and their children's abilities plan their children's education according to these beliefs.