When a child has a disability, parents’ adaptation has traditionally been viewed in negative terms (e.g. grief and stress). However, recent research suggests that parents’ adaptation is determined by their appraisals of their situation, both positive and negative. It would be valuable for clinicians to have a conceptual framework for exploring such cognitions.
Aims:
This study aimed, first, to devise an attribution theory–based framework for understanding parental cognitions and, second, to examine its usefulness for analysing the appraisals of parents through a qualitative study.
Methods:
A wide-ranging review of literature on cognitions, particularly attribution theory, was used to devise the ‘Four Ws’ framework: What is the problem? Who is to blame? Why did it happen? When? This was used as a scaffold to organise the data from semi-structured interviews with 36 parents of young children with physical disabilities.
Results:
The framework proved robust, with a range of subthemes emerging through thematic analysis. Additional themes also emerged, for example, about emotions.
Conclusion:
The Four Ws framework provides a potential tool for clinicians working with parents of children with disabilities, both to guide general conversations when the child’s needs are the main focus and for more in-depth clinical work with struggling parents.
AbramsonL.SeligmanM.TeasdaleM. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49–74.
2.
AlbrechtG.DevliegerP. J. (1999). The disability paradox: High quality of life against all odds. Social Science & Medicine, 48, 977–988.
3.
AndersonC. A. (1983). The causal structure of situations: The generation of plausible causal attributions as a function of type of event situation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 185–203.
4.
AspinwallL. G.RichterL. (1999). Optimism and self-mastery predict more rapid disengagement from unsolvable tasks in the presence of alternatives. Motivation and Emotion, 23, 221–245.
5.
AspinwallL. G.RichterL.HoffmanR. (2001). Understanding how optimism works: An examination of optimists’ adaptive moderation of beliefs and behaviour. In ChangE. C. (Ed.), Optimism and pessimism: Implications for theory, research and practice (pp. 217–238). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
6.
BakerB. L.BlacherJ.OlssonM. B. (2005). Preschool children with and without developmental delay: Behavior problems, parents’ optimism and wellbeing. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 49, 575–590.
7.
BaxterC.CumminsR. A.YiolitisL. (2000). Parental stress attributed to family members with and without a disability: A longitudinal study. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 25, 105–118.
8.
BeckA. T. (1976). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. New York, NY: International University Press.
9.
BraunV.ClarkeV. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101.
10.
BristolM. M. (1987). Mothers of children with autism or communication disorders: Successful adaptation and the double ABCX model. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 17, 469–486.
11.
BuchananG. M.SeligmanM. E. P. (Eds.). (1995). Explanatory style. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
12.
CarverC. S.ScheierM. F. (1990). Origins and functions of positive and negative affect: A control-process view. Psychological Review, 97, 19–35.
13.
CassidyT. (1999). Stress, cognition and health. London, England: Routledge.
14.
DanielA. (1983). Power, privilege and prestige: Occupations in Australia. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Longman Cheshire.
15.
DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (1994). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
16.
EllingsenR.BakerB. L.BlacherJ.CrnicK. (2014). Resilient parenting of preschool children at developmental risk. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 58, 664–678.
17.
GoodleyD.LawthomR. (2005). Disability and psychology: Critical introductions and reflections. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
18.
GrahamJ. M.ConoleyC. W. (2006). The role of marital attributions in the relationship between life stressors and marital quality. Personal Relationships, 13, 231–241.
19.
GraungaardA. H.AndersenJ. L.SkovL. (2011). When resources get sparse: A longitudinal, qualitative study of emotions, coping and resource-creation when parenting a young child with severe disabilities. Health, 15, 115–136.
20.
HallH.BobrowM.MarteauT. M. (1997). Parents’ attributions of blame for the birth of a child with Down syndrome: A pilot study. Psychology and Health, 12, 579–587.
21.
HassallR.RoseJ.McDonaldJ. (2005). Parenting stress in mothers of children with an intellectual disability: The effects of parental cognitions in relation to child characteristics and family support. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 9(6), 405–418.
22.
HeimanT. (2002). Parents of children with disabilities: Resilience, coping, and future expectations. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 14, 159–171.
23.
HortonT. V.WallanderJ. L. (2001). Hope and social support as resilience factors against psychological distress of mothers who care for children with chronic physical conditions. Rehabilitation Psychology, 46, 382–399.
24.
MackeyJ. D.PerrewéP. L. (2014). The AAA (appraisals, adaptation, attribution) model of job stress: The critical role of self-regulation. Organizational Psychology Review, 4, 258–278.
25.
MandersJ. E.StonemanZ. (2009). Children with disabilities in the protective services system: An analog study of investigation and case management. Child Abuse & Neglect, 33, 229–237.
26.
MendolaR.TennenH.AffleckG.McCannL.FitzgeraldT. (1990). Appraisal and adaptation among women with impaired fertility. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 79–93.
27.
MillerA.CateI.Johann-MurphyM. (2001). When chronic disability meets acute stress: Psychological and functional changes. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 43, 214–216.
28.
MinnesP.PerryA.WeissJ. A. (2015). Predictors of stress and wellbeing in parents of young children with developmental delays and disabilities: The importance of parent perceptions. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 59(6), 551–560.
MorseR. S.RojahnJ.SmithA. C. (2014). Effects of behavior problems, family functioning, and family coping on parent stress in families with a child with Smith-Magenis Syndrome. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 26, 391–401.
31.
NoremJ. K. (2001). Defensive pessimism, optimism and pessimism. In ChangE. C. (Ed.), Optimism and pessimism: Implications for theory, research and practice (pp. 77–100). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
32.
NoremJ. K.CantorN. (1986). Defensive pessimism: Harnessing anxiety as motivation. Journal of Personality and Psychology, 51, 1208–1217.
33.
OliverM. (1996). Understanding disability: From theory to practice. London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
34.
RobertsR.ShuteR. (2011). Children’s experience of living with a craniofacial condition: Perspectives of children and parents. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 16, 317–334.
35.
SandelowskiM. (1986). The problem of rigor in qualitative research. Advances in Nursing Science, 8(3), 27–37.
36.
SchneiderS. (2001). In search of realistic optimism: Meaning, knowledge, and warm fuzziness. American Psychologist, 56, 250–263.
37.
SchuengelC.RentinckI. C.StolkJ.VoormanJ. M.LootsG. M.KetelaarM.. . . BecherJ. G. (2009). Parents’ reactions to the diagnosis of cerebral palsy: Associations between resolution, age and severity of disability. Child Care Health and Development, 35, 673–680.
38.
SeligmanM. E. P. (1991). Learned optimism. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: Random House.
39.
SeligmanM. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realise your potential for lasting fulfilment. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: Random House.
40.
SnyderC. R. (1994). The psychology of hope: You can get there from here. New York, NY: Free Press.
41.
SnyderC. R. (2000). The hope mandala: Coping with the loss of a loved one. In GilhamJ. E. (Ed.), The science of optimism and hope (pp. 129-142). Radnor, PA: Templeton Foundation Press.
42.
TollefsonN. (2000). Classroom applications of cognitive theories of motivation. Educational Psychology Review, 12, 63–83.
43.
WeinerB. (1986). An attributional theory of motivation and emotion. New York, NY: Springer.
44.
WeinerB. (1990). Attribution in personality psychology. In PervinL. A. (Ed.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 465-485). New York, NY: Guilford.
WoolfsonL. (2004). Family well-being and disabled children: A psychosocial model of disability-related child behaviour problems. British Journal of Health Psychology, 9, 1–13.
