SINGAPORE — A handbook that highlights the problems low-income Indian single mothers face which also provides guidelines on how social service providers can work with them was launched today (July 15).

The handbook is a result of research and work done by Project Athena by the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) Family Services Centre (SFSC) and will be a handy resource for professionals and volunteers within the social service sector here.

The project, piloted in 2009 addresses the underlying issues faced by these mothers and facilitates them in coping with their challenging circumstances.

A total of 441 mothers of which 168 were low-income single mothers who applied to received the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund for their children in 2010 participated in the study, and ground research for the handbook began in 2011.

About 14 per cent of the single mothers reported that they do not have access to three meals a day for their family while more than half said they were not able to find basic birthday celebrations for their children or fulfill religious obligations.

In the course of qualitative reviews, a sizeable proportion of mothers also talked about their ex-husbands drunkenness and violence, and between 73 per cent to 87 per cent of them said the trauma has caused major interference to their school or work, interpersonal relationships, thinking and judgement, mood and self-esteem.

A third of Indian single mothers surveyed reported that the often faces depressive symptoms and that they repeated more confidence about most aspects of parenting except when dealing with their emotional outbursts.