Family-centered practices and the parental well-being of young children with disabilities and developmental delay.
Family-centered early intervention raises Spanish parents’ confidence and well-being.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mas et al. (2019) asked two large groups of Spanish parents about the help they got for their young kids with delays.
The team used a survey to see if family-centered practices made parents feel more confident and less stressed.
What they found
Parents who said services were family-centered also reported higher self-efficacy and better well-being.
The link held across both samples, showing the effect is sturdy in Spain.
How this fits with other research
Gur et al. (2022) asked Israeli fathers the same question and got the same positive answer.
Safer-Lichtenstein et al. (2023) went further by adding Spanish-language stress groups and still saw high parent satisfaction.
Efstratopoulou et al. (2023) looked similar families but found more stress and conflict when no support was given.
The two Maria papers seem to clash, yet the 2023 study measured families without extra help, while the 2019 study measured families who got family-centered care.
Argumedes et al. (2018) ran a head-to-head test and showed family-centered support cut stress more than basic parent classes.
Why it matters
If you coach in a family-centered way, you give parents control, choices, and respect. That small shift lifts their confidence and mood. Start each IFSP meeting by asking, "What matters most to your family today?" and build the plan around that answer.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Research evidence from studies in North America on the relationships between family-centered practices, parents' self-efficacy beliefs, parenting confidence and competence beliefs, and parents' psychological well-being was used to confirm or disconfirm the same relationships in two studies in Spain. AIMS: The aim of Study 1 was to determine if results from studies in North America could be replicated in Spain and the aim of Study 2 was to determine if results from Study 1 could be replicated with a second sample of families in Spain. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A survey including the study measures was used to obtain data needed to evaluate the relationships among the variables of interest. The participants were 105 family members in Study 1 and 310 family members in Study 2 recruited from nine early childhood intervention programs. Structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect effects of the study variables on parents' well-being. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Results showed that family-centered practices were directly related to both self-efficacy beliefs and parenting beliefs, and indirectly related to parents' psychological well-being mediated by belief appraisals. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The pattern of results was similar to those reported in other studies of family-centered practices. Results indicated that the use of family-centered practices can have positive effects on parent well-being beyond that associated with different types of belief appraisals.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2019 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103495