The purpose of this study is to develop and conduct a cognitive behavior therapy program to enhance the family resilience of families with developmentally disabled children, and verify its effect. Firstly, this study aimed to develop a cognitive behav...
The purpose of this study is to develop and conduct a cognitive behavior therapy program to enhance the family resilience of families with developmentally disabled children, and verify its effect. Firstly, this study aimed to develop a cognitive behavior therapy to strengthen family resilience for mothers and non-disabled siblings of children with developmental disabilities. Secondly, the study tried to examine the changes in the internal characteristics of the mothers and non-disabled siblings (automatic thoughts, dysfunctional attitude, psychological well-being, child-rearing efficacy) and family resilience, upon completion of the therapy. The study selected 20 mothers rearing children with developmental disabilities and 20 non-disabled siblings of the same family in 4th and 6th grades. The subjects were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group, and a cognitive behavior therapy was offered to the experimental group. Considering the characteristics of the subjects, the mothers were given 12 sessions of the therapy while the non-disabled siblings were offered 8 sessions.
To analyse the data collected in this study, SPSS 20.0 was used, The methods of the analysis were as follows. First, frequency and percentage were obtained to look into the participants’ general characteristics of social and demographic background. Second, Mann-Whitney U Test (non-parametric) was conducted to examine the difference in the pre-therapy scores of each scale between the experimental group and control group. Third, Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test (non-parametric) was conducted to examine the difference in the pre-post therapy scores of each scale between the experimental group and control group. Fourth, Mann-Whitney U Test (non-parametric) was conducted to examine the difference in the post-therapy scores of each scale between the experimental group and control group. Fifth, content analysis was carried out based on the extracts from worksheets and recorded contents from the sessions, in order to supplement the reliability of the verified results from quantitative analysis, and explore the changes in family-related maladaptive thoughts and beliefs revealed in the process of the therapy.
The main findings of this study are as follows. First, it was found that the cognitive behavior therapy made a significant change in the therapy group of mothers. As a result of conducting the cognitive behavior therapy there was a significant reduction in the pre-post therapy test scores regarding the mothers’ internal variables - automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitude. Psychological well-being and child-rearing efficacy significantly improved in general, and family resilience also had a significant change. These results signify that the mothers’ participation in the cognitive behavior therapy had positive influence on the family resilience and internal variables as they went through self-monitoring such as identifying emotions, automatic thoughts and beliefs, thus adopting cognitive restructuring and communication, problem-solving techniques. Second, it was found that the cognitive behavior therapy made a significant change in the therapy group of siblings. As in the group of mothers, there was a significant reduction in negative automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitude among the siblings of children with developmental disabilities. Along with the mothers, the therapy seemed to help the non-disabled siblings monitor themselves concerning their negative automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitude and enable them to restructure cognition. This change was found to influence their psychological well-being as well, and brought significant enhancement as a whole. The cognitive behavior therapy also had an effect on the siblings’ family resilience. A significant change was marked in all the sub-factors of resilience which included family toughness, family coherence, communication and problem-solving techniques. This positive change in family resilience seems to be a direct effect of their mothers who made improvement through the cognitive behavior therapy program. Third, according to the post-therapy test, whereas the therapy was found to bring changes to the internal characteristics and family resilience of experimental group for both mothers and non-disabled siblings, there was no change in the control group. Fourth, as a result of analyzing the changes in the maladaptive thoughts and beliefs of experimental group, it was found that there was a positive change as the maladaptive thoughts and beliefs of mothers regarding their developmentally disabled children, non-disabled children and spouses were replaced by adaptive ones; the maladaptive thoughts and beliefs of non-disabled siblings regarding their developmentally disabled siblings and parents were also replaced by adaptive ones. This change signifies that as sessions progress, family resilience was strengthened by the applications of self-monitoring, cognitive restructuring, communication, and problem-solving techniques.
The cognitive behavior therapy constructed in this study has been proven to be effective in enhancing family resilience for the mothers and siblings of children with developmental disabilities. Hence, this study is significant in following aspects. First, the study was able to construct a cognitive behavior therapy in consideration of the characteristics of the mothers and non-disabled siblings of the same families. Second, the same components of the cognitive behavior therapy were presented to the mothers and siblings of children with developmental disabilities and had a significant influence on the internal variables and family resilience. Third, in order to verify the effect of the program systematically, the study used specific scales of internal variables and family resilience of mothers and non-disabled siblings, and conducted a quantitative analysis. It also carried out content analysis to examine the changes in their maladaptive thoughts and beliefs.