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

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Acceptance and commitment therapy; Developmental disabilities; Disability; Experiential acceptance; Experiential avoidance; Parents; Psychological flexibility; Systematic review.