Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of training problem solving skills on coping strategies in parents with mentally retarded children.

Method: 60 parents with mentally retarded children from Tehran were chosen by in access sampling and they were divided accidentally in experimental and control group (any group to 30 persons).The research design was semi experiment design with pretest-post test. The experimental group was trained in7 sessions and coping strategies questionnaire of Lazarus is used as the examination tool. Data were analyzed by covariance test.

Results: Results show that training problem solving skills is effective on direct coping strategy, taking distance strategy, self-control strategy, strategy of asking for social support, avoidance strategy and evaluative strategy in parents with mentally retarded children. However, training problem solving skills is not effective on acceptance of responsibility and solving planned problem in parents with mentally retarded children.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that problem solving skills is effective on some of coping strategies in parents with mentally retarded children.