Evaluation of a Support Program for Siblings and Parents of Children With Disabilities

ABE Mihoko, KANNA Masako

doi:10.6033/tokkyou.52.349

Having a brother or sister with a disability gives those children's siblings unique concerns and problems that can affect their development. Those concerns and problems are said to be, in large part, due to the dynamics of the relations within their family. The present study evaluated a support program for family members (children with disabilities and their parents and siblings without disabilities,) that was intended to improve the negative feelings of the children without disabilities about their siblings with disabilities, and also to improve parent-child relations. Participants were 14 families that had a child with a disability (6 to 16 years old), including 16 siblings from those families (7 boys and 9 girls, 6 to 15 years old) and their parents. The families participated in 6 two-hour sessions of the workshop, held every two weeks. Contents of the workshops included: (a) free play time, (b) activities for the whole family, (c) activities for each group, that is, groups of parents, of siblings, and of children with disabilities, and (d) activities for the siblings without disabilities and their parents. The siblings and their mothers completed a questionnaire before and after the series of workshops. They were also interviewed about the contents of the workshops. Analysis of this information revealed that after the workshop, the siblings had less negative feelings about their brothers and sisters with disabilities, and their "feelings of burden" decreased significantly. The results on the Family Diagnostic Test showed positive changes in the parent-child relationships. Further, from the case studies, the parents gained an appropriate understanding of the siblings' feelings of burden, and took better care of them. These results suggest that this support program may decrease siblings' negative feelings about their brothers and sisters with disabilities, and also improve their relationships with their parents.

Evaluation of a Support Program for Siblings and Parents of Children With Disabilities

Bibliographic Information

Search this article

Description

Journal

Citations (1)*help

References(1)*help

Related Projects

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Export

Report a problem