Mona Siminghalam, Karim Aubi, Ali Hajian, Hossein Alibakhshi,
Volume 16, Issue 3 (9-2018)
Abstract
Objectives: Having a disabled child can have profound effects on the living conditions and the mental health of their family. Siblings of the children with disabilities have an important role in supporting them. Their physical, mental and emotional health may be at risk, therefore, their condition and living should be concerned and improved. The current study aimed to investigate the quality of life of these siblings in comparison with the siblings of normal children.
Methods: This cross-sectional comparative study was carried out on 33 people who had one sibling with severe developmental disabilities aged 13 to 18 years. The control group consisted of 32 siblings of healthy children who were geographically and economically identical with the test group. The quality of life was measured by the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Version 4.0 (PedsQL4). The data were analyzed by the Independent t test and Mann-Whitney test.
Results: The Mean±SD age of the siblings with severe developmental disabilities was 15.64±2.06 years and the same score for the normal group was 15.30±2.23 years. The results showed that the siblings of children with developmental disabilities significantly have a poorer quality of life compared to the siblings of the healthy group (P<0.05). This significant difference was also found in the academic, emotional and physical scores of the quality of life scale, but no significant differences were found between the two groups in respect with the social function (P>0.05).
Discussion: The current study showed that the quality of life of siblings of children with developmental disabilities is decreased. These results suggest the necessity to provide supportive and therapeutic programs for maintaining and improving the quality of life of these siblings and the whole family.
Robab Teymouri, Tahereh Najafi Fard, Kourosh Amaraei, Ehsan Bahrami, Shabnam Ghorbani Kalkhajeh, Saheb Yousefi,
Volume 20, Issue 4 (12-2022)
Abstract
Objectives: Sibling relationships are often among the long-lasting relationships and more than two-thirds of adolescents with siblings introduce their siblings as the most important people in their life. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of communication skills on sibling relationships among adolescents with Down syndrome.
Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study based on a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. A total of 60 adolescents were members of the Iranian association for Down syndrome in Tehran City, Iran. From this population, 30 adolescents were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were divided into two groups (experimental and control). At first, the adolescents’ parents responded to the sibling relationship questionnaire. Then, the experimental group attended 10 sessions on communication skills. Following the tenth session, parents completed the sibling relationship questionnaire once more. The data were analyzed using a multivariate analysis of covariance.
Results: The results showed that the experimental group experienced a significant increase in two dimensions of warmth/closeness and conflict following the intervention program compared to the control group (P<0.01). However, the difference between the two groups was not significant in the other dimensions, namely relative status/power and rivalry.
Discussion: It seems that communication skills training is an appropriate intervention to improve sibling relationships of adolescents with Down syndrome.
