The Effects of a Family Support Program Including Respite Care on Parenting Stress and Family Quality of Life Perceived by Primary Caregivers of Children with Disabilities in Korea.

In this study, a family support program was carried out for primary caregivers of children with disabilities. The program included respite care, recreation programs, counseling, and social support coordination based on individual needs of each family. In order to verify the intervention effects, parenting stress and family quality of life were measured before and after the intervention. Twenty-one primary caregivers who have children with disabilities attending a special school located in Buchon, Korea participated in the study. The experimental group A (sevencaregivers) was provided with respite care services only whereas the experimental group B (seven caregivers) was provided with a multifaceted family support program including recreational programs, counseling, and social support coordination in addition to respite care services. No support was provided to the control group (seven caregivers). The results showed a significant difference in the change of family quality of life between the experimental group B and the control group. However, there was no significant difference among three groups in parenting stress. Discussion about the results and implications for future research is presented. Children depend upon their family members, who are their first teachers and lifelong friends. This is more true to children with disabilities. However, it is very challenging for families to take care of children with disabilities, especially when the families do not have enough support and resources. Many families experience fatigue, depression, and helplessness caused by parenting stress. Therefore, empowering families with all possible resources and services will ultimately help them cope with various challenges they confront as they care for their children with disabilities. In this article, we report on the effects of a family support program on parenting stress and family quality of life. Families of children with disabilities face ongoing challenges and crises beyond their control. It has been shown in the literature that birth and caring of children with disabilities cause extreme parenting stress to family members, hinders conversations among the family members, relatives, and neighbors, and jeopardize the family or couple relationships. Primary caregivers, especially, are faced with day-to-day burden and difficulties to a greater extent than other family members. This is primarily because full responsibility of caring a child is being imposed on one person who spends most of the time with the child. Accordingly, the parenting stress that mothers, who are often the primary caregivers among family members, feel is more serious than that of other family members (Kim, 1995; Seo, 1991). As an ecological perspective evolved, research communities are paying more attention to various environments surrounding the children and the interaction between the environments and children. Following this tendency, support for environments that have close relationships with children with disabilities is also becoming more important. In Korea, the Special Education Act for Individuals with Disabilities enacted in 2007 proclaimed, in Article 28 on Related Services, that superintendents should provide family support such as family counseling for the students with disabilities and their families. Before this act, family support was regarded as a synonym of parent education, but the act expanded the concept of family support to a wide range of services not only for building family capacity regarding child development and education but also for enhancing family quality of life.