Background and purpose: Raising a mentally retarded child for the family is a stressful and sometimes lead to marital conflicts. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of coping strategies on marital satisfaction and stress of parents of mentally retarded children.

Method: The present research was quasi-experimental with pretest- posttest control group. The statistical population consisted of all parents of mentally retarded students in Rasht (Iran) that 20 couples of them were selected by convenience sampling method and assigned in experimental and control group randomly. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) and ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale were used to gather of data. For experimental group, coping strategies training executed at 12 weekly sessions whereas control group did not have any training. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance.

Results: The results showed that teaching coping strategies was effective on marital satisfaction and parenting stress. Parents in the experimental group showed a significant increase in marital satisfaction and showed significant decrease in stress (p<0/05).

Conclusion: Based of the findings can be conclude coping strategies is one of the most effective methods for marital satisfaction and reduce stress in parents of mentally retarded children.