Family-centered practices and the parental well-being of young children with disabilities and developmental delay

Joana Maria Mas; Carl J Dunst; Anna Balcells-Balcells; Simon Garcia-Ventura; Climent Giné; Margarita Cañadas

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103495

Family-centered practices and the parental well-being of young children with disabilities and developmental delay

Res Dev Disabil. 2019 Nov:94:103495. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103495. Epub 2019 Sep 6.

Authors

Joana Maria Mas¹, Carl J Dunst², Anna Balcells-Balcells³, Simon Garcia-Ventura⁴, Climent Giné⁵, Margarita Cañadas⁶

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Science Blanquerna, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: joanamariamm@blanquerna.url.edu.
² Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute, Asheville and Morgnton, North Carolina, USA. Electronic address: cjd@puckett.org.
³ Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Science Blanquerna, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: annabb0@blanquerna.url.edu.
⁴ Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Science Blanquerna, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: simongv@blanquerna.url.edu.
⁵ Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Science Blanquerna, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: climentgg@blanquerna.url.edu.
⁶ Catholic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: margarita.canadas@ucv.es.

PMID: 31499380
DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103495

Abstract

Background: Research evidence from studies in North America on the relationships between family-centered practices, parents' self-efficacy beliefs, parenting confidence and competence beliefs, and parents' psychological well-being was used to confirm or disconfirm the same relationships in two studies in Spain.

Aims: The aim of Study 1 was to determine if results from studies in North America could be replicated in Spain and the aim of Study 2 was to determine if results from Study 1 could be replicated with a second sample of families in Spain.

Methods and procedures: A survey including the study measures was used to obtain data needed to evaluate the relationships among the variables of interest. The participants were 105 family members in Study 1 and 310 family members in Study 2 recruited from nine early childhood intervention programs. Structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect effects of the study variables on parents' well-being.

Outcomes and results: Results showed that family-centered practices were directly related to both self-efficacy beliefs and parenting beliefs, and indirectly related to parents' psychological well-being mediated by belief appraisals.

Conclusion and implications: The pattern of results was similar to those reported in other studies of family-centered practices. Results indicated that the use of family-centered practices can have positive effects on parent well-being beyond that associated with different types of belief appraisals.

Keywords: Family-centered practices; Parenting beliefs; Psychological well-being; Self-efficacy beliefs; Structural equation modeling.

MeSH terms

Adult
Child, Preschool
Developmental Disabilities* / epidemiology
Developmental Disabilities* / psychology
Disabled Children* / psychology
Disabled Children* / rehabilitation
Family Health*
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Health*
Parenting / psychology
Parents / psychology*
Psychiatric Rehabilitation* / methods
Psychiatric Rehabilitation* / psychology
Psychosocial Support Systems
Self Efficacy
Spain / epidemiology