[Social support as a protective factor for the mothers of children with Congenital Zika Syndrome].

Mothers of children with CZS face exceptional challenges caring for their offspring. Due to this reality, the availability of social support can function as an important protective factor. In this respect, this study aimed to evaluate the role of informal and formal social support in mental health, parental self-efficacy and satisfaction in the life of mothers of children with CZS. A total of 69 mothers of children with CZS (M = 26.4 years; SD = 6.23) living in the state of Ceará, Brazil participated in this study. They filled out the Social Support Satisfaction Scale, General Health Questionnaire, Parental Self-efficacy Scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale. The results show that the greater perception of informal social support significantly enables better mental health and satisfaction with life levels. In addition, access to formal social support significantly enables enhanced perception of parental self-efficacy. The results observed with the mothers of children with CZS are consistent with those reported in other studies with mothers of children with chronic conditions, pointing out that formal and informal social support have different effects on mental health, parental self-efficacy, and satisfaction with life, even controlling the effect of sociodemographic variables.