Kroese, B.S., Hussein, H., Clifford, C. & Ahmed, N,

2002,

Reviewed by Dr Susan McGaw,
Cornwall Partnership (NHS) Trust.

Methodology

An investigation was conducted into the effects of social support networks of mothers with intellectual disabilities on their psychological well-being and their views of parenting. This paper offers useful data on the impact of emotional functioning of these mothers, using quantitative and qualitative analysis. Little is known in the academic literature about the psychological well-being of parents with intellectual disabilities, despite multiple references made regarding their emotional and physical vulnerability. However, more recently there have been a number of studies reported which have addressed the psychological health and well-being of these parents, to which this paper makes a worthy contribution.

This survey involved interviews with 15 mothers (mean age 36 years) with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities who were receiving services from the statutory and voluntary sector agencies in the West Midlands (UK). Three questionnaires were administered to participants. The Affect Balance Scale (10-item) Questionnaire (Bradburn, 1969) was adapted to measure subjective well-being and happiness. Also, the Self-Esteem Questionnaire ( Rosenberg , 1965) was adapted to extract positive and negative perceptions about participant's self-worth. The Assertiveness Questionnaire (Gambrill & Richey, 1975) was used to examine assertive behaviours in mothers. All three tests were reported as having good construct validity and reliability. The questionnaires were conducted in the home or in service buildings, followed by interviews that focused on the mothers' stressors, parenting aspirations and on formal/social contacts.

Critical appraisal

This paper makes a useful contribution to the academic literature currently available on the topic of parents with intellectual disabilities. However, the study was limited to mothers only, to the exclusion of their male partners. The extent to which fathers or male partners may have influenced outcomes was therefore unclear. Also, the absence of a control group in this non-experimental design means that the findings lack comparison with other parenting populations. As is often the case, the authors struggled to identify a large sample of adults with learning disabilities for inclusion in their study. The small sample size (n=15) inevitably reduces the power of the statistics and the reliability and validity of the reported findings. Nevertheless, the authors have provided an interesting examination of measured effect, assertiveness and self-esteem as reported by mothers with intellectual disabilities and the support that they view as helpful in their parenting role.

Key findings

• Significant associations were found between a) the number of reported social contacts and positive effect, b) the frequency of reported social contacts and self-esteem and c) lack of self-esteem and reported burdens of parenting.
• The average number of social contacts reported was 6.8 persons, with only half of these being described as very helpful.
• Very few non-family members were part of the support networks.
• Qualitative analysis of mothers' comments revealed a number of themes regarding helpful and unhelpful support.

Social work practice/ policy implications

Social workers will find this paper of interest and of relevance, especially with regard to the size and frequency of informal/formal support provided to mothers with intellectual disabilities and how this affects their self-esteem and perceived burdens. The paper concludes that support services should provide parents with better and increased opportunities to improve their social network (through support, skill-teaching programmes, support groups etc.) and highlights the feel-good factor that comes from the adoption by services, of a family-centred approach. The recommendations sit well within the social care model recommended by the Valuing People White Paper regarding services for people with learning disabilities.