Fathers of children with disabilities: encounters with health professionals in a Chinese context

A systematic review of academic performance of Children with Disabilities (CWDs) in inclusive education schools in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)

Globally it is estimated that about 150 million children are living with disabilities. Inclusive education inspires the participation of all students in the learning process in the same classroom. However, it is really difficult to find thorough, credible accounts of disabled children's access to education, enrolment, attendance, and results. This review evaluated academic performance, including access to school, enrolment, attendance, and results of Children with disabilities (CWD) in LMICs. In reporting this systematic review, the researchers followed the recommended Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) reporting standards. The authors conducted searches using Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar electronic databases. The study's major findings indicate that CWDs in inclusive schools perform poorly academically compared to their non-disabled peers. Consequently, the researchers recommend more primary research to evaluate the academic performance of CWDs and the progress of inclusive education in LMICs.

Psychological flexibility of parents of children with disabilities: A systematic literature review

PURPOSE

Psychological flexibility, a popular concept in clinical psychology, is still evolving in the context of studying parents of children with disabilities. This study systematically reviewed the literature on the psychological flexibility of parents of children with disabilities to identify contributions of the literature and make recommendations for practice and future study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines and identified studies on the psychological flexibility of parents of children with disabilities using five electronic databases: PsychNet, PubMed, ERIC, Social Services Abstracts, and EBSCO. Twenty-six articles met the criteria and were included. A thematic analysis was conducted to extract major themes.

RESULTS

Three major themes emerged from the data: (1) psychological flexibility is associated with various aspects of mental health; (2) psychological flexibility is associated with parental functioning in caring for children with a disability; (3) acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) based interventions effectively enhance the psychological flexibility of parents of children with disabilities.

CONCLUSIONS

The study concludes that psychological flexibility is extremely relevant to disability studies and should be further explored in relation to different parental well-being and functioning aspects. Professionals are encouraged to incorporate principles of acceptance and commitment therapy into their work with parents of children with disabilities.

Chinese fathers of children with intellectual disabilities: their perceptions of the child, family functioning, and their own needs for emotional support

As more and more evidence accrues in support of family-centered approaches to disability services, parents' experiences raising children with disabilities is receiving increasing attention internationally. The literature on parents of children with disabilities, however-whether intellectual disability (ID) or other chronic health conditions (OCHC)-tends to focus on mothers as the primary research subject. To address the paucity of research focused on fathers' experiences of raising a child with disabilities, I surveyed over 4500 fathers of children with disabilities in Mainland China. The surveys focused on fathers' perceptions of their children, their perceptions of family functioning, and their perceptions of their own needs for emotional support. Results derived from statistical analyses of the data suggest that fathers tend to believe their children with ID are harder to raise than other children, and that they more often do things that irritate them and make them feel angry. Fathers of children with ID also tend to perceive their family functioning as somewhat problematic. Generally, these fathers are disinclined to seek emotional support from outside their families, although fathers from the majority Han population and fathers who have greater than high school education are more likely to seek support than are fathers from minority ethnic groups and fathers with lower educational background. Comparisons are made with fathers of children with OCHC. Implications of the findings are identified and lines of further research suggested.

The participation of parents of disabled children and young people in health and social care decisions

BACKGROUND

There is widespread acceptance that parents should be fully involved in decisions about their son or daughter's health and social care. This is reflected in partnership models of practice as well as local and national policy across the United Kingdom. Previous research indicates that parents' experiences of decision making with professionals are mixed.

AIM

The research reported here aimed to explore parents' experiences of participating in decisions made with professionals about their disabled son or daughter's care.

DESIGN

This research used mixed methods including survey methodology and qualitative in depth interviews.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

The research was conducted in one Trust in Northern Ireland. Participants were 77 parents of children and young people with a range of impairments aged between 3 and 28 years.

RESULTS

Three themes emerged from the data: taking the lead, not knowing, and getting the balance right. Parents wanted to be involved in all aspects of decision making. Although parents reported many examples of good practice, there were also times when they did not feel listened to or did not have enough information to inform decisions.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Parents in this research recounted positive as well as negative experiences. Parents took on a protective role when decisions were made about their son or daughter and at times, reported the need to "fight" for their child. The provision of information remains problematic for these families, and at times, this created a barrier to parents' participation in decision making. Partnership approaches to care that recognize parents' expertise are particularly important to parents when decisions are made with professionals.

Caracterización de los conocimientos de las madres sobre la discapacidad de sus hijos y su vínculo con la dinámica familiar

El propósito del estudio es establecer los conocimientos, la dinámica familiar y comunitaria de madres de hijos con discapacidad que sirvan de base para la instrumentación de programas de intervención. Participaron 42 madres con edades entre 19 y 49 años (M = 31.14) de un Centro de Rehabilitación Infantil perteneciente a la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional en México. Se utilizó una guía de entrevista semi-estructurada para explorar los conocimientos, la dinámica familiar y comunitaria de las familias. Las madres reportaron que no recibieron preparación de cómo tratar a sus hijos; sin embargo, ellas consideran la importancia de adquirir conocimientos especializados para entender y tratar al menor. Las madres que no tienen los conocimientos necesarios sobre la discapacidad de su hijo no son capaces de entender ni aceptar la condición del niño, conllevando a la negación del problema, inconformidad, culpa y depresión. Se observó en el estudio que una adecuada preparación de la madre después del nacimiento de su hijo, acerca de la discapacidad, puede proveer una mejor interacción y funcionamiento de estas familias.

‘Do It Yourself’ in the parent–professional partnership for the assessment and diagnosis of children with autism spectrum conditions in Hong Kong: A qualitative study

Timely and appropriate care for children with autism spectrum conditions is affected by the interaction between healthcare professionals and parents. Despite the importance of the parent–professional partnership, there is a dearth of cultural-specific data on parent–professional partnership in the Chinese context. We conducted 10 in-depth life-history interviews with parents of children with autism spectrum conditions in Hong Kong who were diagnosed during preschool years. Using an interpretative phenomenological analytic method, five themes were constructed to represent the context of parent–professional partnership in Hong Kong along the pathway of seeking a diagnosis: (a) access to the assessment and diagnosis of autism spectrum conditions, (b) multiple procedures of assessment, (c) consultation prior to diagnosis and assessment, (d) communication of diagnosis and assessment result and (e) post-assessment isolation. Parental narratives highlight the important domains of parent–professional partnership and reflect the complexity of diagnosis and the lack of a cohesive system. For many parents, the assessment procedure was marred by a series of obstacles, which were further exacerbated by a poorly developed parent–professional partnership. Suggestions for parent–professional partnership development include establishing an evidence-based best practice guideline for Hong Kong, creating pre-assessment information workshops for parents to attend and equipping professionals with knowledge about autism spectrum conditions and enhanced communication skills.