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

• Published in: Research in developmental disabilities 2019-11, Vol.94, p.103495-103495, Article 103495
• Main Authors: Mas, Joana Maria, Dunst, Carl J., Balcells-Balcells, Anna, Garcia-Ventura, Simon, Giné, Climent, Cañadas, Margarita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Child, Preschool; Developmental Disabilities - epidemiology; Developmental Disabilities - psychology; Disabled Children - psychology; Disabled Children - rehabilitation; Family Health; Family-centered practices; Female; Humans; Male; Mental Health; Parenting - psychology; Parenting beliefs; Parents - psychology; Psychiatric Rehabilitation - methods; Psychiatric Rehabilitation - psychology; Psychological well-being; Psychosocial Support Systems; Self Efficacy; Self-efficacy beliefs; Spain - epidemiology; Structural equation modeling
• ISSN: 0891-4222; 1873-3379
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103495

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.