Social pedagogy as a model to provide support for siblings of children with intellectual disabilities: A report of the views of the children and young people using a sibling support group

"Filling in the gap": A qualitative case study about identity construction of siblings of youth with a neurodisability

INTRODUCTION

In families of children with a neurodisability, siblings have unique experiences that can shape their identity. There is limited information about the developmental process of how siblings form their identity. This study aims to understand the identity construction of young siblings who have a sibling with a neurodisability.

METHODS

As part of a patient-oriented research program, we engaged with our Sibling Youth Advisory Council in Canada. In this qualitative case study, data from semi-structured interviews augmented by photo elicitation and graphic elicitation of relational maps were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Nineteen sibling participants (median age = 19 years, range = 14-33 years) reflected on the uniqueness of their role during childhood. During adolescence and emerging adulthood, they became closer with their sibling with a neurodisability and increased communication with their parents about how to care for their sibling with a neurodisability. These experiences influenced how they explored and began to reconcile their sibling identity with their professional and social identities.

CONCLUSION

Siblings of youth with a neurodisability discover their unique identity and require support in this developmental process. Future interventions could evaluate how supports for siblings can have an impact on the positive development of their identity.

Effects of Familial Relationships on School Adjustment of Adolescents and Young Adults With Congenital Heart Disease

BACKGROUND

As more than 85% of patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) have grown to adulthood through improvement in treatment and surgery, the difficulties they experience are expanding into areas related to daily life. Accordingly, adjustment to school in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with CHD is of increasing interest and is influenced by familial factors.

OBJECTIVE

This was a cross-sectional descriptive study to examine the effects of parental positive emotional expressiveness and sibling relationships on school adjustment of AYAs with CHD.

METHODS

In this study, a self-reported questionnaire survey was used to collect the data. The participants were 104 AYAs with CHD aged 13 to 21 years who were attending school and had siblings.

RESULTS

Maternal positive emotional expressiveness ( r = 0.584, P < .01), paternal positive emotional expressiveness ( r = 0.584, P < .01), and sibling warmth/closeness ( r = 0.478, P < .01) were significantly correlated with school adjustment. However, the results of multiple regression analysis showed that only maternal positive emotional expressiveness (ß = 0.459, P < .05) and sibling warmth/closeness (ß = 0.236, P < .05) were significantly associated with school adjustment.

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents and young adults with CHD who reported higher maternal positive emotional expressiveness and sibling warmth/closeness exhibited better school adjustment. Findings suggest that intervention programs to increase parental positive expressiveness and enhance warmth/closeness of sibling relationships may contribute to improving school adjustment.

Having another child without intellectual disabilities: Comparing mothers of a single child with disability and mothers of multiple children with and without disability

To investigate how having a child without a disability is related to maternal mental health and its predictors, we compared mothers of a single child with intellectual disabilities (single-child group, n = 117) and mothers of children with and without intellectual disabilities (multiple-children group, n = 457), in Japan. Compared to the multiple-children group, the single-child group had lower hope and social capital and poorer mental health; furthermore, 42.5% of them had decided not to have another child, despite desiring one. Hope was the strongest predictor of mental health in both groups but was more positively related to mental health in the multiple-children group. The fear of the possibility of the next child having a disability and receiving inadequate support were the obstacles for mothers who had decided not to have another child. Thus, greater support and more opportunities for obtaining adequate information about the implications of having another child may be needed.

Health condition and familial factors associated with health-related quality of life in adolescents with congenital heart disease: a cross sectional study

Background

The focus of clinical care after the repair of congenital heart disease has shifted from saving life of the patient to the patient’s quality of life. The purpose of this study was to examine the health condition and familial factors associated with the health related quality of life of adolescents with congenital heart disease.

Methods

Ninety-eight adolescents aged 13–19 years were collected from a congenital heart clinic from July 22 to August 23, 2013. Perceptions of parental rearing behaviors, health related quality of life of adolescent with congenital heart disease, and general characteristics were measured. We used multiple linear regression analysis to explore factors that are associated with the health related quality of life of adolescents with congenital heart disease.

Results

New York heart association class (Adj R² = .186, p = .000), presence of siblings (Adj R² = .240, p = .010), and mother’s emotional warmth (Adj R² = .265, p = .043) were significantly associated with the health related quality of life of adolescents with congenital heart disease.

Conclusions

Emotionally warm parental rearing behaviors and the presence of siblings were important familial factors that were positively associated with HRQOL in adolescents with CHD. Therefore, it is important for healthcare providers to develop a greater sensitivity to, and awareness of, the familial influences that may be impacting a subject’s HRQOL, as well as the exigencies of the CHD, itself.