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Socioeconomic and psychological variables as risk and protective factors for parental well-being in families of children with intellectual disabilities
- Authors:
- OLSSON M.B., HWANG C.P.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 52(12), December 2008, pp.1102-1113.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The first aim of the present study was to estimate the extent to which differences in well-being in parents of children with and without intellectual disability (ID) in Sweden can be accounted for by differences in the presence of the risk factors: (1) child disability; (2) socioeconomic disadvantage; (3) household composition; and (4) parental characteristics. The second aim was concerned with individual variation in well-being within the group of parents of children with ID. The aim was to estimate if protective factors such as parental personality characteristics (sense of coherence), perceived positive impact of the child and satisfaction with participation in different arenas of life explained variation in well-being in mothers and fathers of children with ID over and above that explained by the risk factors. Parents of children with ID (62 mothers and 49 fathers) and control children (183 mothers and 141 fathers) completed postal surveys on well-being, socioeconomic situation, health, sense of coherence, satisfaction with participation in different arenas of life and the child's impact on the family. The results showed that mothers of children with ID had lower levels of well-being than fathers and control parents, but the presence of a child with ID did not in itself predict poorer maternal well-being. Rather, differences in economic hardship and self-rated health were the strongest predictors for well-being. It was further found that 67.7% of the mothers of children with ID scored within the high well-being group. The predictive power of the model increased significantly for both fathers and mothers when protective factors were added to the model (42 and 78% explained variance compared with 25% with only risk factors). Well-being of parents with a child with ID is dependent upon the interplay of risk and protective factors and research needs to address these variables simultaneously.
Personality impact on experiences of strain among staff exposed to violence in care of people with intellectual disabilities
- Author:
- LUNDSTROM Mats
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 4(1), March 2007, pp.30-39.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Explored are the relationships among personality and emotional reactions, work-related strain, and experiences of burnout among staff exposed vs. not exposed to violence when caring for people with intellectual disabilities (ID). Questionnaires measuring personality, emotional reactions, strain and burnout, and exposure to violence were distributed to staff (n = 112) working in 22 group homes for people with ID aged 18 years and older in a community in northern Sweden. The results did not show evidence of a direct influence of personality variables on exposure to violence when working with people with ID and no direct relationships were found between exposure to violence and the staff members' personality traits as measured with the Temperament and Character Inventory and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale. Although the influence of personality traits on how the staff members experienced violence could not be clearly determined, the authors found an association between personality and strain and the risk of burnout in that certain staff exposed to violence felt more emotionally exhausted than did staff who were not exposed. The knowledge of the relationships among violence, personality, and risk of burnout may be important for the understanding which staff need special supports when working with people with ID.