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Background: Parental reflective functioning has a positive effect on parents' wellbeing. It is associated with positive outcomes for their children. However, there is little research on it among parents of toddlers with severe developmental disabilities., Aims: We examined an early bio-psycho-social rehabilitative intervention with parents of toddlers with severe developmental disabilities in daycare programs and its contribution to their parental reflective functioning and coping., Methods and Procedures: Seventy parents of children (ages 3 months to two and half years) responded to measures before and after the intervention in their children's daycare programs. Structural equation modeling of the mediation model revealed that the therapeutic inputs were associated with more adaptive coping strategies by increasing parental reflective functioning., Outcomes and Results: Parents who participated in an intervention of 13 sessions or more significantly increased their reflective functioning. The path analysis showed that parental reflective functioning after the intervention mediated the association between its prior level and the therapeutic inputs, and the parents' proactivity and search for support., Conclusions and Implications: Parental reflective functioning positively affects parents' adaptive coping styles. A bio-psycho-social intervention targeting parental reflective functioning benefits parents of toddlers with severe developmental disabilities., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The first two authors report no declarations of interest. The third, fourth, and fifth authors are employed by Beit Issie Shapiro. The third author is the Director of the Dual Diagnosis Unit, at Braman Emotional Wellbeing Institute, the fourth author is the director of the research and evaluation department at Beit Issie Shapiro, and the fifth author is a Psychiatric consultant at the Braman Emotional Wellbeing Institute., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study examined the roles of stigma and of enabling factors in help-seeking by parental caregivers of individuals with intellectual disabilities and dual diagnosis. Questionnaires were completed by 195 family caregivers. Lower family stigma was related to higher personal enabling factors (e.g. knowledge about services and previous experience in seeking help), which in turn was related to higher help-seeking behaviors. Higher professional enabling factors (e.g. attitude of the professional, services in the vicinity) were related to higher intentions to seek help, which were related to higher help-seeking behaviors. Professionals can help families achieve a greater sense of self-efficacy in their own help-seeking process by providing them with knowledge about services and facilitating a more positive experience in the process.

This paper compares the family quality of life (FQOL) of families with a child with disability in Jewish and Arab communities in Israel. Social, political, and cultural realities have an effect on all members of society. For families with a child with disability there are additional challenges. Being a minority family with a child with a disability adds to the challenges. One hundred fifty-eight Jewish and 105 Arab Israeli caregivers of children with disabilities responded to the Family Quality of Life Survey (FQOLS-2006), which operationalizes FQOL as a construct of six measurement dimensions in nine core family life domains. Overall, Jewish families in Israel reported higher FQOL than Arab families. Although eight of the nine domains were rated highly for Importance, the main outcome measures Attainment and Satisfaction were rated lower for almost all domains. Some domains contributed to overall differences more than others. The patterns also differed for the Jewish and Arab families. It is important for policy and practice to consider the social/political status of families and to consider the possible impact this has on the family of a child with a disability. Further research is needed to develop application models for addressing the needs of minority populations in designing programs into the general service delivery system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]