Complaint as mother gets title (6)
I believe the answer is:
malady
'complaint' is the definition.
(malady is a kind of health problem)
'mother gets title' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (Ma is another word for mother or mum).
'gets' says to put letters next to each other.
'title' becomes 'lady' (I have seen 'Female title ' mean 'lady' so perhaps 'title' could also mean 'lady').
'ma'+'lady'='MALADY'
'as' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for malady that I've seen before include "Afflication" , "Sickness or disease" , "Complaint" , "Ailment; illness" , "Sickness, ailment" .)