Quality of Life for People with Learning Difficulties Moving to Community Homes

Research concerning people with learning difficulties who have left institutions has typically investigated how well people 'adapt' to life in the community, and has often ignored users' own perceptions of the changes in their quality of life resulting from the move. In this study, eight people with learning difficulties who moved from a hospital and seven people who moved from parental homes to live in staffed homes in the community were interviewed. Choice, privacy, social life and relationships with their parents and staff emerged as important factors in participants' perception of their quality of life. Their relationships with their parents were found to be close, and in some cases their parents were overprotective. Staff were perceived in some cases as too controlling and in others as providing too little support. The findings indicate that people with learning difficulties moving to community residences have aspirations which encompass far more than a wish to adapt to life in the community, and their relationships with family and staff are a central factor in achieving such aspirations.     

Learning to Partner, Disabling Conflict: early indications of an improving relationship between parents and professionals with regard to service provision for children with learning disabilities

A questionnaire was constructed to analyse whether the high degree of parental dissatisfaction with disability professionals found in previous studies is indicative of the modern parent-professional relationship with regards to service provision for learning disabled children. The subsequent data suggests that professionals are beginning to address the need for clear and appropriate information and intervention, an acknowledgement of parental needs and expertise, and the effective role of parental involvement, whilst parents function within the role of service 'consumers'. Consequently, previous levels of dissatisfaction are slowly being undermined, although professional service remains reactive, particularly in terms of counselling and advice, despite the need and desire for more pro-active provision.     

Parental Caregivers' Desires for Lifetime Assistance Planning for Future Supports for Their Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Future life planning is a growing concern among families with children with disabilities. This article presents a needs assessment evaluating feasibility of a new model for future life planning for family caregivers, Lifetime Assistance, which will provide ongoing planning and monitoring for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Using surveys informed by a series of focus groups, data were gathered from older and younger parents in one midwestern state regarding the potential program. Study results indicate that respondents did not feel the current system of support was adequate for planning for their child's future, nor sufficient for monitoring the quality of life for their children in the future. Although almost all families had identified a person to support their family members when they were no longer able to do so, parental caregivers overwhelmingly identified the need for the Lifetime Assistance program and many were willing to pay for this service themselves.     

Parental values in the UK

This article investigates the extent to which parental values differ between social groups in the UK at the start of the twenty‐first century. The study of parental values is an important area of sociological enquiry that can inform scholarship from across the social sciences concerned with educational inequality and cultural variability in family life. We draw on data from the Millennium Cohort Study to show how parent’s social class, religion, religiosity, race and ethnicity, and education are related to the qualities they would like their children to have. Our rank‐ordered regression models show that parents in service class occupations place significantly more importance on ‘thinking for self’ than ‘obey parents’ compared to those in routine manual occupations. We also show that although class matters, the relationship between education and parental values is particularly strong. Parenting values also differ by parental racial and ethnic background and by levels of religiosity.     

Are the voices of parents heard? A scoping review of satisfaction in parenting programs

Parenting programs are an effective approach to promote positive parenting. In evidence-based practice, client’s values and preferences contribute to promoting quality, and are a crucial component of service evaluation. The current scoping review summarizes quantitative research that examines parental satisfaction with parent training for families with child conduct problems. We aimed to know how much research had been undertaken; what measures have been used; and what were the findings related to parental satisfaction. A scoping review was conducted to retrieve peer-reviewed original articles.Out of 420 papers 5.5 % obtained data on parental satisfaction. Seven different measures were used, mainly Therapy Attitude Inventory and Client Satisfaction Questionnaire. Out of 23 papers, ten studies reported Cronbach's alpha coefficients on the assessment that was used to evaluate parental satisfaction. All of the 23 included studies found that parents are very satisfied with the parenting program they have received.The findings indicate that only a few studies included parents’ values and preferences in quantitative evaluation studies on parental programs. In addition, there is a limited arsenal of assessment tools to measure what matters to parents. There is a need to develop measures with high psychometric quality, which will promote more quality in service evaluation.     

Parental Participation in Issues Concerning their Sons and Daughters with Learning Disabilities

'Participation' is much in vogue in current service parlance. This paper brings together literature on the participation of parents of people with learning disabilities. Research has focused mostly on participation during the school career, although increasing attention is being paid to participation at times of transition to adult services and moves from the family home. A number of issues surrounding participation are discussed: information, service philosophy, parental expectations for their sons and daughters and relative levels of parental and professional responsibility, aiming to illustrate the complexity of this concept and issues that exist for research and practice.     

Identifying the needs of parents with learning disabilities: A review

Despite the success of some programmes in raising the parental competency of parents who have learning disabilities, many services are still providing only minimal support to such families, often following crisis intervention. Recent legislative changes within the UK have meant that statutory services are now required to adopt a preventative approach to children and families in need. A review of the literature reveals that children of learning-disabled parents are particularly vulnerable to abuse/neglect and removal from their natural family. This article addresses the difficulties that many clinicians currently experience in the early identification of parents who have learning disabilities. It also emphasizes the need for a systematic approach in the assessment of these parents prior to the implementation of parental teaching programmes.     

The stress of progression from school to work for adolescents with learning disabilities em leader What about life progress?

Four students with learning disabilities were interviewed about their experiences at work. Two students, one male and one female, were high school seniors and two students, one male and female, were freshmen at a community college. Individual student interviews ranged from 2 to 4 hours. Informal interviews were conducted with students' teachers and parents. At the time of the interview, students had part-time, unskilled jobs in which they had worked for at least 6 months prior to participation in the study. Themes that emerged from analysis of the data included students' reactions to entering the workforce, stress in learning the job tasks, overcoming difficulties by developing coping strategies, learning work values and parental influences. Student interviews underscored the importance of practice runs and real life learning to reduce stress prior to entering the work force.     

Looking at engagement and outcome from the perspectives of child protection workers and parents

This paper reports a study that sought to understand what facilitates engagement between parents and child protection workers and to ascertain the relationship between such engagement and intervention outcome. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through personal interviews with 131 worker-parent dyads (workers and corresponding parents receiving service) from 11 child protection agencies in Ontario, Canada. Measures included scales for engagement, parental well-being (depression and stress), and worker well-being (burnout, job satisfaction, stress). Outcome measures included perception of child safety, changed parenting practices and satisfaction. A relationship was found between workers' perception of parent engagement and parents' perception of their own engagement, as well as between the perceptions that workers and parents had around their own respective engagement. Workers who were satisfied with service outcomes were significantly more engaged than those who were unsatisfied. Parents thinking that their children were safer as a result of intervention were significantly more engaged than parents who thought that their children were less safe. The strongest reason given by parents for positive change was being able to trust their worker (p < .001) and believing that their worker was knowledgeable about parenting (p < .01). Qualitative data suggested that parents valued experienced workers because they thought such workers could better understand their problems and how to deal with them. Correspondingly, workers felt that experience enabled them to better understand clients' problems and provide more effective support. No relationship was found between parent engagement and parental depression or stress, but the mean depression score for parents placed them at risk of clinical depression. There was a negative correlation between worker stress and engagement. The study demonstrates that engagement between clients and workers is related to positive outcomes (as reported by workers and parents) and supports the contention that promoting engagement is integral to a successful child protection intervention.     

The Role of Parental Indulgence and Economic Stress in Life Satisfaction: Differential Perceptions of Parents and Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences between adolescents and parents in their perceptions of parental indulgence, stress (economic and life), and life satisfaction. In addition, using the conceptual frameworks of family ecosystems and developmental theory, the relationships between the three types of parental indulgence (soft structure, overnurturance, and giving too much), economic stress, life stress, and life satisfaction were examined for parents and adolescent children. Findings indicated that adolescents perceived higher levels of stress and soft structure as compared to their parents, whereas parents perceived higher levels of economic stress. Additionally, each type of parental indulgence affected parent and adolescent life stress and life satisfaction differently. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Assessing parents with learning disabilities: The parental skills model

Definitions of what constitutes adequate or inadequate parenting continue to be unclear. Not surprisingly, professionals who are required to formulate opinions regarding parental competency often experience difficulties with this task. These difficulties are further compounded when the assessment involves parents with learning disabilities. They comprise a heterogeneous population many of whom have varying deficits and skills. The Parental Skills Model outlined in this paper is offered as a guide to professionals in their assessment of such parents. The model focuses on three primary areas which have been identified as crucial to parenting, namely, parents' life skills, familial history and access to support/resources. When difficulties are encountered by parents with learning disabilities in any of these three areas it appears to have a direct and indirect effect on the child's care and development. A model of good practice is proposed and illustrated with a case study.     

Chinese urban and suburban parents' priorities for early childhood education practices: Applying Q-sort methodology

This research examines 44 Chinese urban and suburban parents' priorities for quality early childhood education (ECE) program characteristics by applying a mixed methodology of Q-sort process and interviews in two Zhejiang cities in China. Four groups of parental views were identified, including Health and Well-rounded Development, Daily Routine and Care, Environment, and Child-centered Learning. Our findings showed that Chinese parents valued children's physical and emotional wellbeing most, as they believe laying this foundation is more important than acquiring academic knowledge and skills.The findings from this investigation contradict those of previous studies and literature in which ECE researchers described Chinese parents as unique and different from parents in the West by favoring teacher-centered teaching and learning to boost their children's initial academic achievements and prepare them well for formal schooling. We found Chinese parents preferred teachers keeping a balance between teacher-initiated and child-initiated learning. Additionally, they do not like providing children sand/water play, stuffed animals, and children-alone-time mainly because of health concerns. The paper discusses some possible reasons for the findings drawing on studies in Chinese social-cultural context and their contributions to improving ECE curriculum and practices.     

Intergenerational transfers in long term care

How are parental inter-vivos transfers to their children and children’s informal care of parents influenced by personal characteristics, family conditions and state specific long term care policies? AHEAD data from 1993 and 1995 and a two-party choice model are used to guide the estimation of OLS and binary logit models of the amount and likelihood of inter-vivos transfers to children and informal care of parents. Results suggest that both parents’ characteristics and their offspring’s characteristics affect parental gifts to children and children’s time assistance to their parents, highlighting the interdependent nature of these decisions. Furthermore, though state policies did not consistently affect parental gift giving, the availability of state respite care support -short-term “breaks” for informal family caregivers- (1 % significance level) and adult day care centers (5 % significance level) were positively related to the amount and likelihood of children’s time assistance to their parents. These findings highlight the importance of some state programs such as respite care support in encouraging intra-family support for the elderly. Support for programs that reduce the caregiving burden may encourage more children to care for their elderly parents.     

Parents of Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Meta-Synthesis,Part I

In 2011 6.4 million children in the United States ages four to 17 years had a diagnosis of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Quantitative studies have indicated that parenting stress for parents of children diagnosed with ADHD is high. This meta-synthesis compiled and analyzed a systematic review of the qualitative studies of parents’ lived experience of having a child with ADHD. Searches in online scholarly databases yielded an initial 1217 hits, which were narrowed down to seventy-three studies that met the criteria. A “meta-ethnography” framework was used for the synthesis. One major finding involved the emotional burden of caring for a child with ADHD. Parents struggled with a variety of intense and painful emotions as they attempted to manage family routines. Disciplining children only worked in a limited way and took constant effort throughout the day. The challenges of parenting spilled into other areas of the parents’ lives, such as their health, psychological, marital, and occupational functioning. Implications for practitioners are discussed, including the need to validate parental stress and the difficulty of applying behavioral management strategies with their children, the need for increased support of partner relationships, and the need to connect parents with support to prevent poorer outcomes for the child.     

Impact of Adolescents' Filial Self‐Efficacy on Quality of Family Functioning and Satisfaction

In this prospective study, we tested a structural model in which adolescents' perceived self‐efficacy to manage parental relationships affected their satisfaction with family life both directly, and indirectly, through its impact on family practices. Findings based on 380 Italian adolescents showed that perceived filial self‐efficacy was linked directly and indirectly to satisfaction with family life, and that these relations held both concurrently and longitudinally. In particular, the greater adolescents perceived their self‐efficacy, the more they reported open communication with their parents, the more accepting they were of their parents' monitoring of their own activities outside the home and the less inclined they were to get into escalative discord over disagreements. Regardless of whether perceived filial self‐efficacy was placed in the conceptual structure as a contributor to the quality of family interactions or as a partial product of family functioning, it consistently predicted satisfaction with family life.     

Parental Socialization and Financial Capability Among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

The financial capability of adolescents is important because it establishes cognitive and behavioral patterns that enable them to manage their financial resources in later life. Analyzing the data collected in a sample of 946 adolescent Chinese students from Hong Kong (55.7% female, mean age?=?14.5, range 12–18 years), the present study found parental socialization (i.e., direct parental teaching and parental financial norms) influenced adolescents’ financial behavior through via financial learning outcomes (i.e., subjective financial knowledge, adoption of modeled parental financial behavior, and objective financial knowledge) and financial attitudinal variables (i.e., perceived behavioral control and financial attitude). The findings suggest parents should intentionally teach financial knowledge, and convey clear and positive financial norms to adolescents.     

Talking or Keeping Silent About Parental Mental Health Problems—A Grounded Theory of Parents' Decision Making and Experiences with Their Children

This grounded theory study explored parents' experiences of responding to their children's need for understanding parental mental health concerns. Fifteen parents with severe and enduring mental health difficulties participated in the study. The findings suggest four main social processes that influence parents' talk with their children about parental mental health issues, namely “Protecting and being protected,” “Responding to children's search for understanding,” “Prioritizing family life,” and “Relating to others.” Implications of the findings for clinical practice and future research are considered. In particular, the need for more family‐orientated services where parents experience parental mental health problems is highlighted.     

Living with the parents: the purpose of young graduates’ return to the parental home in England

Young graduates in England often return to the parental home after a period of living away during their university studies. Little is known, however, about why they return and how coresidence with parents fits within a life trajectory. This paper reports upon an in-depth cross-sectional qualitative study of young graduates’ coresidence with their parents. It identifies a five-part typology of the purpose of coresidence as perceived by the graduates: a base camp for exploration before settling into adulthood; a launch pad for careers; a savings bank, in particular for future property purchases; a refuge for respite and reflection; and a preferred residence, whether on account of comfort, cultural practice or to support parents. The paper further explores how far these purposes were associated in young adults’ accounts with social structures, individual agency or some combination of these. It concludes that the default understanding of graduates’ return and coresidence as a residual function when other options fail is insufficient. Such a generalisation obscures the different purposes which the return can enable; it overplays some notion of a broken biography rather than the positive contribution of coresidence to graduates’ trajectories towards adulthood and to their life experiences.     

Use of parent education to improve self-efficacy in parents of students with emotional and behavioral disorders

The results of a practice-based research project are described, in which parents of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) participated in a parent education presentation aimed at increasing parental self-efficacy. Results indicated that parents who participated did increase both their parental self-efficacy in regard to influencing their child’s school-related performance and helping their child succeed in school. Qualitatively, parents also reported the parent education was helpful and that they had tried suggested interventions at home. Though a small-scale pilot project, results are promising and suggest parent education is a feasible technique school districts can use to reach parents of students with EBD. Limitations and future directions are discussed.