Parents’ needs and empowerment in families with a young child with an intellectual disability
In order to better understand the reality of families with a child with an intellectual disability and to promote family-centered intervention approaches, 71 parents were interviewed. They were receiving services from a rehabilitation center for people with intellectual disabilities and were the parents of a child under six years old. The instruments used in this study were French translations of the Parent Needs Survey (Seligman & Darling, 1989) and the Family Empowerment Scale (Koren, Dechillo, & Friesen, 1992). A profile was presented of the needs that these families had in common. The latter were related especially to the information received and the development of the young child with a disability; it also included needs that seemed to be less of a priority (such as being helped with daily family’s concerns and functions). In addition, the parents’ level of empowerment in relation to the different aspects of their lives (i.e., the family, services, or community) was described.