Bedouin mothers of young children with developmental disability - Stigma, quality of life and collaboration with professionals.
Feeling judged lowers teamwork; feeling good raises it—true for Bedouin moms and likely yours too.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers gave 101 Bedouin mothers of kids with developmental delay a short survey. They asked how much stigma they feel, how good their life feels, and how well they work with teachers and therapists.
The team used numbers to see if stigma or life quality predicted teamwork with pros.
What they found
Moms who felt more stigma worked less well with pros. Moms who felt better life quality worked better with pros. Each link stayed strong even when the other was counted.
How this fits with other research
Durbin et al. (2019) already showed better teamwork lifts family life quality. Manor-Binyamini et al. (2021) flip the view: stigma drags teamwork down, good life quality lifts it up.
Smith et al. (2023) echo the stigma link. Somali mothers of autistic kids also said teacher bias and low hopes block school teamwork. The pattern crosses cultures and diagnoses.
Bromley et al. (2004) warned that half of ASD mothers feel high distress. The new data say distress is only part of the story; feeling judged hurts teamwork even when moms cope well.
Why it matters
You cannot erase culture, but you can lower stigma in your room. Greet mothers warmly, use their names, praise their child, and keep eye contact. These small moves raise life quality and boost teamwork without extra hours.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Although children across the world experience Developmental Disabilities, most research on DD has been conducted using Western cultural perspectives. Similarly, though much has been written on the subject of collaboration between parents and professionals around the world, this subject has hardly been studied among Bedouin mothers in the Middle East, leaving significant gaps in the literature. This study intends to fill some of these gaps by exploring and gaining an understanding of the experiences of Bedouin mothers raising young children with DD. AIMS: The aims of the study were to examine: A) Do stigma and the QoL of mothers of young children with DD affect the collaboration between them and professionals? B) Do relationships exist between stigma, QoL, and collaboration among the mothers? METHODS: Ninety Bedouin mothers of children with DD completed: a socio-demographic questionnaire, a questionnaire of collaboration between parents and professionals, and a QoL questionnaire. RESULTS: A significant negative relationship was found between stigma and the collaboration of the mothers with the professional, and a significant positive relationship between QoL and collaboration. The model for predicting collaboration using stigma and QoL was significant. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: This study emphasizes the need for collaboration between this mothers and professionals, and to develop community programs.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103819