Families of children with disabilities: specific problems and models of support

Valentina Vartic

doi:10.56663/rop.v13i1.79

Authors

Valentina Vartic University of Bucharest, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56663/rop.v13i1.79

Keywords:

family, children with disabilities, stress, anxiety, depression, support, counseling, parenting, coping, resilience

Abstract

Studies show that families with one or more children with disabilities face a series of specific problems, in addition to those with typical children, as a result of special living situations, difficulties in coping with child care, material, medical problems, socialization and restricted communication with relatives or the community. The therapy addressed to children and adolescents with disabilities did not take into account from the beginning the need for support for their parents, who form their main support. The family can be part of the therapeutic recovery process, in addition to its primary role as parents, but for this, it is necessary that its condition and functioning and that of its members be optimal.

References

Bayat, M., (2007) Evidence of resilience in families of children with autism, in: Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 51(Pt 9):702-14 DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2007.00960.x.

Bekhet, A. K., Johnson, N. L., & Zauszniewski, J. A. (2012). Resilience in Family Members of Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review of the Literature. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 33(10), 650–656. https://doi.org/10.3109/01612840.2012.671441.

Copăceanu M, Costache I, (cord., 2022). Sănătatea mintală a copiilor și a adolescenților din România - Scurtă radiografie –Raport UNICEF România.

Derscariu, V. S. (2023). Resilience vs. Disability: effective coping approaches in the context of a family crisis. Analele Ştiinţifice ale Universităţii» Alexandru Ioan Cuza «din Iaşi. Sociologie şi Asistenţă Socială, 16(1), 149-158.

Green, S.E. (2003). “What do you mean ‘what's wrong with her?’”: stigma and the lives of families of children with disabilities. In: Social Science & Medicine, Volume 57, Issue 8, October 2003, Pages 1361-1374 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00511-7.

Grigoraș, V., Salazar, M., Vladu, C.I., Briciu, C., (2021) Diagnoza situației persoanelor cu dizabilități în România, disponibil aici: https://anpd.gov.ro/web/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Diagnoza-situatiei-persoanelor-cu-dizabilitati-in-Romania.pdf.

Gugała B, Penar-Zadarko B, Pięciak-Kotlarz D, Wardak K, Lewicka-Chomont A, Futyma-Ziaja M, Opara J. Assessment of Anxiety and Depression in Polish Primary Parental Caregivers of Children with Cerebral Palsy Compared to a Control Group, as well as Identification of Selected Predictors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16(21):4173. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16214173.

Guralnick, M.J. (2020). Applying the Developmental Systems Approach to inclusive community-based early intervention programs: Process and practice. Infants & Young Children, 33, 173-183. doi: 10.1097/IYC.0000000000000167.

Karimzadeh, M., Mohammad Rostami, M., TeymouriR., Moazzen, Z., Tahmasebi, S., (2017). The association between parental mental health and behavioral disorders in pre-school children. In: Electron Physician . 2017 Jun 25;9(6):4497-4502. doi: 10.19082/4497. eCollection 2017 Jun.

Lupușor, R.-M., Bodrug-Lungu, V. (2023) Rolul familiei în procesul de integrare a copilului cu autism în procesul educaţional. In: Perspectivele de rezilienţă a familiei în contextul multiplelor crize, Ed. 10, 11 mai 2023, Chişinău. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/PRFCMCX103108.

Magerotte, G., (2012). Intervenția comportamentală clinică. Cluj Napoca: Editura ASCR.McCubbin, H. I., McCubbin, M. A., Thompson, A. I., Thompson, E. A.

Manning, C., Gregoire, A. (2006) Effects of parental mental illness on children, in Psychiatry, Volume 5, Issue 1, 1 January 2006, Pages 10-12, https://doi.org/10.1383/psyt.2006.5.1.10.

Martin, C.A., Papadopoulos, N., Chellew, T., Rinehart, N.J., Emma Sciberras, E., (2019). Associations between parenting stress, parent mental health and child sleep problems for children with ADHD and ASD: Systematic review, Research in Developmental Disabilities, Volume 93, October 2019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103463.

McConnell, D., Savage, A., & Breitkreuz, R. (2014). Resilience in families raising children with disabilities and behavior problems. Research in developmental disabilities, 35(4), 833-848.

Paster, A., Brandwein, D., & Walsh, J. (2009). A comparison of coping strategies used by parents of children with disabilities and parents of children without disabilities. Research in developmental disabilities, 30(6), 1337-1342. Widyawati, Y., Otten, R., Kleemans, T., & Scholte, R. H. J. (2022). Parental resilience and the quality of life of children with developmental disabilities in Indonesia. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 69(6), 1946-1962.

Popa, A. E., (2012) Preschool Education Professionals on Risk and Resilience Factors for Children with Special Educational Needs in: Revista de Asistență socială nr. 2/2012.

Preda, O., (2022) Parent counselling and parental education for families with disabled children. In: Revista Română de Terapia Tulburărilor de Limbaj şi Comunicare nr 2 VIII/2022.

Roșan, A., (2015). Psihopedagogie specială. Modele de evaluare și intervenție. Iași: Editura Polirom.

Rusu, P-P., Bogdan I., Duca, D.S., Ursu, A. (2023) Stres și coping în relațiile de familie: Efecte asupra dinamicii de cuplu și comportamentelor de parenting, in: Rev. Psih., vol. 69, nr. 2, p. 143–156, Bucureşti, aprilie – iunie 2023.

Sekułowicz M, Kwiatkowski P, Manor-Binyamini I, Boroń-Krupińska K, Cieślik B. The Effect of Personality, Disability, and Family Functioning on Burnout among Mothers of Children with Autism: A Path Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(3):1187. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031187.

Şleahtiţchi, M. & Gavriliţă, L (2020). Stresul şi particularităţile manifestării lui în mediul mamelor care au în îngrijire copii cu afecţiuni neuromotorii. In: Vector European, 2020, nr. 1, pp. 178-186. ISSN 2345-1106.

Stempovschi, E. (2021) Aspecte de informare şi consiliere pentru părinții care educă copii cu dizabilități, in: Asistența complexă a copiilor cu cerințe educaționale speciale în mediul educațional incluziv, 10 decembrie 2020, Chişinău, Republica Moldova: CEP UPS „I. Creangă”, 2020, pp. 192-199. ISBN 978-9975-46-480-2.

Tarană, A., M., (2021). Strategii de coping în familiile copiilor cu dizabilităţi: rolul rezilienţei asistate. In: Social Work Review / Revista de Asistență Socială, 2021, Issue 4, p. 63.