ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Family quality of life (FQoL), just like individual quality of life, has become a priority outcome in the policies and services received by persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families. Conceptualizing, measuring, and theorizing FQoL has been the object of investigation in recent decades. The goal of this paper is to present a revision of the Spanish Family Quality of Life Scales, the CdVF-E < 18 and the CdVF-E >18, and describe the FQoL of Spanish families with a member with IDD. METHODS: The sample included a total of 548 families with a member under 18 years old and 657 families with a member over 18. Based on an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) firstly and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) secondly, the two scales' psychometric properties were explored. RESULTS: The CdVF-ER < 18 and the CdVF-ER > 18 comprise 5 dimensions, containing 35 and 32 items, respectively, and they show good validity and reliability. The families obtained a high FQoL score, although some differences exist between the dimensions on which families with children under and over 18 score highest and lowest. CONCLUSION: The characteristics of the revised scales facilitate their use by professionals, administrations, and services.
Subject(s)
Developmental Disabilities/psychology , Family/psychology , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Psychometrics/statistics & numerical data , Quality of Life/psychology , Surveys and Questionnaires/standards , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Middle Aged , Perception , Reproducibility of Results , Social Support , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In recent decades, Family Quality of Life (FQOL) has emerged as a decisive construct, both to improve the living conditions of the families of people with disabilities and to assess the results on the services and supports that they receive. The aim of this research is to determine the perception of the families regarding their support needs, the quality of their partnerships with professionals, and their FQOL and then identify to what extent the supports of early childhood intervention centers have a positive impact on the families' FQOL while exploring whether the family-professional partnership has become a fundamental intervening factor of FQOL. METHOD: The participants were 202 families with children aged 0-6 with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We used the structural equation model to analyze the influence that the adequacy of the supports and the partnerships exerted on FQOL. RESULTS: The results indicate that the families have language and speech support needs for their children and information needs for themselves, and that they are mostly satisfied with their partnerships with the professionals and their FQOL. Our results also indicate that their degree of satisfaction with the support was a good predictor of FQOL and their ratings of partnership quality was a key factor interceding on this effect. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides professionals and public institutions with guidance when designing plans to improve early childhood intervention centers so the quality of life of these families and the progress of children with disabilities living in Spain become progressively stronger.
Subject(s)
Developmental Disabilities , Family/psychology , Intellectual Disability , Professional-Family Relations , Quality of Life/psychology , Child , Child, Preschool , Early Intervention, Educational , Female , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Latent Class Analysis , Male , Personal Satisfaction , Social Support , SpainABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Early childhood intervention (ECI) centres in Spain recently initiated a process of change towards the adoption of family-centred practices (FCPs). Knowledge about the extent to which practitioners' use FCPs is needed. The psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the FCPs scale were examined. METHOD: A convenience sample of 105 families of children with developmental delays attending three different ECI centres in Spain completed the FCPs scale and provided information about the ECI centre characteristics and practices, caregiver self-efficacy beliefs, and family and child demographic information. RESULTS: The Spanish version of the FCP scale was found to be both reliable and valid. FCPs were correlated with self-efficacy beliefs, parents' involvement in their child's ECI program and family decision making. CONCLUSION: The FCP scale provides practitioners with useful information about their practices, but also has capacity-building consequences for families. The study is a first step for examining the use of FCPs in Spain.
