Helpgiving styles and parent empowerment in families with a young child with a disability

Abstract

Despite a substantial conceptual literature demonstrating a significant relationship between helpgiving practices and personal control, there are relatively few empirical studies that have examined this relationship beyond a single cultural group, and few studies that have made use of more complex measures of empowerment. This study reports the results of a survey completed by two groups of families with a young child attending early intervention programs in the US and in Australia. Although there were major differences in the personal characteristics of the two groups, and differences in their reported levels of empowerment and helpgiving practices, the relationship between helpgiving practices and empowerment was the same in both groups. In particular, the use of both a “relational” as well as a “participatory” helpgiving style was crucially associated with empowerment in both groups.