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Family Quality of Life in Several Countries: Results and Discussion of Satisfaction in Families Where There Is a Child with a Disability

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Enhancing the Quality of Life of People with Intellectual Disabilities

Part of the book series: Social Indicators Research Series ((SINS,volume 41))

Abstract

This chapter examines quality of life satisfaction across life domains in several sources using the same survey instrument. The research is described in developmental sequence and illustrates how different variables and factors play an important role in our understanding of family quality of life where there is a child with an intellectual or development disability. These results illustrate the importance of taking a wide range of variables into account and the effects that they may have both on the child with a disability and on other family members. These include family age, form of disability, and place of origin, along with the types of support that are required. The relevance of comparing families with and without a child with a disability is also considered. The results suggest that both internal aspects of family life, including the nature of a child’s disability, and external factors, such as community and the types of support available for the family, are highly relevant. The data stress family variability and therefore raise questions concerning the flexibility of support and intervention. The discussion suggests the types of support that are needed and indicates ways in which policy may be redirected to support more optimal family quality of life along with their impact for each member of the family, including the child with a disability. The results, from a research perspective, indicate ways in which measurement and comparison between groups need to be improved in terms of hypotheses, questions, and research methodology. However there are sufficient data, both of a quantitative and a qualitative nature, to suggest how changes might be made to improve policy and practice for supporting families, and at the same time positively influencing the adaptation of the child with a disability.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Children” is the term used to cover persons of all ages who are the individuals who have been raised by adult members of the family. Unless otherwise stated these children represented a wide age range.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of:

Brian Eacott and Hilary Hayes for their involvement in collecting the Australian data while at Flinders University.

Jacqueline Crisp, University of Victoria, Canada, for help with the original Canadian study.

Hyeji Choi, Seoul Women’s University, South Korea.

Cheng-Yea Ma, Psychiatrist, Tsaotun Psychiatric Center, Department of Health, Tsao tun, Nan-Tou, Taiwan.

Also thanks to Patricia M. Brown for editorial suggestions and Cathy Craft, Canada, for graphical preparation.

We also appreciated the support of Office for Disability and Client Services of the South Australian Department for Families and Communities for their assistance in the Australian data collection and The Ministry of Children and Family Development through the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) for the Canadian material. The views stated are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of government or HELP.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Roy I. Brown

  2. Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Roy I. Brown & Joanne Shearer

  3. Graduate School, Tokyo University of Social Welfare, Tokyo, Japan

    Keumja Hong

  4. Education Department, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Mian Wang

  5. Taiwan Association of Clinical Psychology, Taipei, Taiwan

    Shin-yi Wang

Authors
  1. Roy I. Brown
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  2. Keumja Hong
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  3. Joanne Shearer
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  4. Mian Wang
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  5. Shin-yi Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roy I. Brown .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Accounting and Finance, Monash University, PO Box 197, Caulfield East, 3145, Victoria, Australia

    Ralph Kober

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Brown, R.I., Hong, K., Shearer, J., Wang, M., Wang, Sy. (2010). Family Quality of Life in Several Countries: Results and Discussion of Satisfaction in Families Where There Is a Child with a Disability. In: Kober, R. (eds) Enhancing the Quality of Life of People with Intellectual Disabilities. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 41. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9650-0_20

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