Increasing parental awareness of children's feelings in families of disabled children

Tha purpose of the present study was to assess the effectivanass of a videotape developed for viewing by parents of disabled children. Tha program was designed to provide information which would increase parents': (a) parcaption of children's concerns and feelings, (b) ability to identify children's feelings, (c) acceptance of children's feelings, (d) awareness of negative feelings about having a disabled sibling, and (a) factual information. Tan married couples who ware parents of a disabled child and had at least one other child in the home ware shown a videotape. Siblings of Disabled Children. Major emphasis was placed on tha concerns and feelings of the nondisabled siblings. Comparisons ware made with a control group of ten couples who were given no treatment. One weak prior to and one week following training, subjects completed a series of paper and pencil measures on tha specified variables. Results indicated that parents who had viewed the videotape, relative to the control group, had increased their awareness about possible negative feelings their nondisabled children might have toward a disabled sibling. No significant changes occurred among tha four remaining variables. Discussion cantered around the need for more refined measurement techniques to assess changes in parents' perception of children's feelings, and tha need for alternate research designs utilizing a larger sample and the videotape in conjunction with other delivery modes.