A capacity-building intervention for parents of children with disabilities in rural South India.
Rural parent groups in India give caregivers peer power even when villages stay cold.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Proctor et al. (2024) ran parent support groups in rural South India.
Parents of children with developmental delay met together with a facilitator.
The team asked parents what changed after the group meetings.
What they found
Parents said they felt less alone.
They swapped useful tips and felt brave enough to ask schools for help.
Village attitudes stayed mostly the same, but parents felt stronger together.
How this fits with other research
Divan et al. (2019) used lay coaches in the same region and saw better parent-child play and lower parent stress.
Their trial found no change in autism symptoms, while Katie’s parents still felt empowered.
The two studies do not clash: Gauri counted symptom scores, Katie counted parent voices.
Kaufman et al. (2010) warned that stigma is high in South India; Katie’s groups chip away at that isolation.
Garcia Torres et al. (2024) in Colombia ran short parent groups and also saw big gains in knowledge and confidence, showing the idea travels across cultures.
Why it matters
You can copy the model: gather five to eight parents, give them a safe space, and let them teach each other.
No fancy gear is needed, so it works where clinics are far.
Start a group, step back, and watch parents become the experts.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: A disability service organization piloted a parent capacity-building intervention for parents of children with developmental disabilities in rural South India. AIMS: To examine the impact of this parent capacity-building group intervention on parent empowerment, peer support, social inclusion, advocacy skills, and the factors influencing these outcomes. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A qualitative study recruited 37 participants from 17 parent groups through convenience sampling. Six focus groups occurred six months post the start of this intervention and explored these parents' experiences with the groups and their perceived impacts. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Qualitative analysis yielded four main themes and corresponding sub-themes: peer support (feeling peaceful and supported, building self-efficacy), social inclusion (space to share, acceptance and identity), knowledge sharing (increasing awareness, accepting advice), and advocacy (building confidence, making requests). Participation in parent groups provided participants with opportunities to find peer support, utilize knowledge sharing, feel socially included, and build advocacy skills. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: This study provides a greater understanding of the impact and benefits of parent capacity-building interventions in low-resource settings. Results will improve this intervention and guide other organizations in creating similar programs. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: This paper adds perspectives of parents who are caregivers of children with developmental disabilities in rural South India. More specifically, this paper highlights the impact of a parent-focused intervention in group settings in both rural and urban areas. Parent support group interventions are not common in India and low- and middle-income countries and there is a paucity of literature describing these interventions and their impact. In this study, parents described a need for multifaceted interventions to support their child in the community. These parent groups provided space for caregivers of children with developmental disabilities to make connections, feel validated, and grow confidence to utilize new knowledge or advice shared by other parents to further enhance their lives. Further, parent-group settings provide opportunities to build advocacy skills through timely discussions. Parents reported an increase in feelings of acceptance within the group itself but not within the wider community. This highlights the need for involving the wider community in interventions to promote integration for families with children with disabilities.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2024 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104766