Development of a questionnaire to assess facilitating processes in the families of children with learning disability.
Item
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Title
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Development of a questionnaire to assess facilitating processes in the families of children with learning disability.
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Identifier
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AAI9000702
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identifier
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9000702
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Creator
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Jain, Shashi.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Barry Zimmerman
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Date
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1989
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical | Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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Based on the structural model of the family, four family processes were identified, and a questionnaire was developed to assess the facilitating processes of families with learning disabled children. The proposed research aimed to validate this instrument. The proposed instrument, termed as "The Family Process Questionnaire" (FPQ) was given to 120 families of children classified as perceptually impaired varying in age from 10 to 15 years. The questionnaire was validated using various measures of adjustment of learning disabled children. Academic adjustment was measured using scores on California achievement tests (CAT), and grade point average (GPA) in reading and math. Learning disabled children's socio-emotional adjustment was assessed by: (1) The Piers Harris Self Concept Scale (Piers 1969); and (2) Teacher Report Form (TRF) (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1986). Coefficient alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. Multiple Regression Analyses and Path Analyses were performed to address the specific hypotheses. It was hypothesized that the four family processes identified (acceptance, support, cohesiveness and ability to solve problems) would correlate positively with each dependent measure. The family's ability to solve problems was hypothesized to be most predictive of the academic functioning, and family cohesiveness was expected to be most predictive of overall academic and socio-emotional functioning. The resulting data indicated that the family processes as a group did not positively correlate to each measure of academic functioning. However, they did correlate positively with each measure of socio-emotional functioning. Family support, and not the ability to solve problems, was the most predictive of the academic functioning. Similarly, family support and not cohesiveness was most predictive of overall academic and socio-emotional functioning. The results of Path Analysis revealed that while the family support directly influenced the academic and socio-emotional functioning, it was influenced structurally by the other three family processes. These results confirmed Minuchin's assumption that these family processes are interrelated yet distinct. The results further indicated that even though family support has a direct influence on the learning disabled child's academic and emotional functioning, it depends on the cohesive structure in the family, a process indicating acceptance of the youngster's disability and related difficulties.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
