Siblings of children with chronic illnesses and developmental disabilities are two to three times more likely than their peers to experience psychological adjustment problems.
To address this concern, a report published in the December 2005 issue of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology finds that family-based group intervention can help improve the self-confidence and knowledge of young siblings (ages 4 to 7) of children with special needs.
"We found that participating in a group with other young siblings and parents of children with disabilities was both educational, therapeutic, and fun," says lead author Debra Lobato, PhD, with the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center (BHCRC) and Brown Medical School.
Forty-three healthy siblings (ages 4 to7 years) of children with chronic illness or developmental disabilities and their parents participated in an intervention designed to address sibling challenges that cut across all types of diagnostic conditions including autism, Asperger's disorder, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, cancer and Tourette's.
For six sessions, parents and siblings participated in two group settings (parents with parents, children with children).
The authors measured sibling knowledge, sibling sense of connectedness with other children in similar family circumstances, and sibling global functioning.
Bradley Hospital, located in Providence, RI, is a teaching hospital for Brown Medical School and ranks in the top third of private hospitals receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Read more from this post.
