Caring for fathers and mothers of children with intellectual disability: A pilot study

Abstract

The present outcome evaluation study was undertaken to obtain information pertinent to the formative stages of the psychoeducational programme “Caring for Parent Caregivers”. Quantitative and qualitative analytical procedures, which included the written evaluations of 39 treatment subjects, were employed to examine programme effectiveness and associated issues such as content specific to fathers and mothers. For 24 fathers and 33 mothers of children with disabilities, perceptions of family functioning and subjective distress were assessed, using a pretest-posttest control group design. Quantitative data analyses, from which demonstrable programme effects were not found, suggested that, in contrast to fathers, mothers were likely to have more frequent occurrences of intrusive thoughts regarding their children and were more likely to acknowledge realistic concerns. The themes which emerged from qualitative evaluations of the small group intervention reflected generally positive behavioural and attitudinal outcomes. Implications for programme development, practice, and evaluation research are discussed.