Early childhood intervention practitioners’ competence and confidence appraisals using recommended practices and relationship with parent involvement / Competencia y confianza profesional en atención temprana en el uso de prácticas recomendadas y su relación con la involucración parental

La involucración parental es un componente importante de las prácticas recomendadas en atención temprana (AT). Sin embargo, la forma en que los padres son involucradosen la intervención temprana de sus hi-jos difiere considerablemente entre los profesionales. En este sentido, la investigación actual muestra que el juicio de los profesionales en relación a su competencia y confianza influye el uso de prácticas de AT. Los objetivos de este estudio fueron (1) adaptar y validar la Early Childhood Intervention Practitioner Competence and Confidence Scale para su uso en España, (2) examinar las propiedades psicométricas de esta escala, (3) comparar las creencias de los profesionales en relación a su competencia y confianza en el uso de prácticas recomendadas, y (4) analizar la relación entre estas creencias y el juicio de los profesionales sobre la involucración parental en AT. A este fin, se contó con una muestra española de 130 profesionales de AT. Los resultados indicaron que la escala es un instrumento válido y fiable para medir la competencia y confianza profesional en el uso de seis prácti-cas recomendadas de AT en el contexto español. El juicio de los profesio-nales respecto a su competencia y confianza difirió entre las diversas prác-ticas recomendadas. Se encontraron correlaciones positivas y significativas entre las valoraciones de competencia y confianza de los profesionales y sus juicios sobre la involucración parental. Estos resultados muestran que una elevada competencia y confianza en el uso de diferentes tipos de prác-ticas recomendadas en AT está relacionada con una mayor involucración parental en la participación activa del niño en su aprendizaje y desarrollo en actividades cotidianas. Se discuten las implicaciones prácticas y de investigación.(AU)

Parent involvement in early childhood intervention (ECI) is considered an important component of recommended ECI practices. However, how parents are involved in their child’s early intervention dif-fers considerably between ECI practitioners. Current research indicates that practitioners’ competence and confidence appraisals influence the use of ECI practices. The purposes of this study were to (1) adapt and validate the Early Childhood Intervention Practitioner Competence and Confi-dence Scale for use in Spain, (2) examine the psychometric properties of the scale, (3) compare practitioners’ beliefs about their competence and confidence in using recommended ECI practices, and (4) evaluate the rela-tionship between belief appraisals and practitioners’ judgmentsof parent involvement in ECI. The sample included 130 Spanish ECI practitioners. The results indicated that the scale is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring practitioners’ competence and confidence in using six ECI-recommended practices in Spain. Practitioners’ appraisals of competence and confidence, however, differed across the recommended practices. Sig-nificant positive correlations were found between the practitioners’ ap-praisals of competence and confidence and their judgments of parent in-volvement. These results show that a strong sense of competence and con-fidence in using different kinds of ECI-recommended practices is related to increased parent involvement in active child participation in learning and development in everyday activities. Research and practical implications are discussed.(AU)

Participants' Bias in Disability Research on Family Quality of Life during the 0-6 Years Stage.

BACKGROUND: Over the past two decades, various research teams have designed and applied instruments to measure the quality of life of families with a member who has a disability. A recent systematic review on the state of the Family Quality of Life in early care identified that many of these studies collected data only from the mothers. The present study aimed to investigate whether there is a bias in participant selection in these types of studies. METHOD: A systematic review of the scientific literature was conducted in three databases-Scopus, Web of Science, Eric-from 2000 to 2022. A total of 72 empirical studies were identified. RESULTS: The findings indicate that most studies examining the Family Quality of Life were based on the information of a single informant per family unit. The profiles of participants according to the research objective are quite similar. In one-third of studies, the authors reported that family members who participate cannot be represented by only mothers or one participant per household. CONCLUSIONS: Given the dynamic and collective nature of the construct, the application of a systemic approach is necessary.

Family-centred early intervention: Comparing practitioners' actual and desired practices.

BACKGROUND: In Spain, as in other countries, there has been a deep and intense process of change towards the adoption and use of family-centred practices (FCPs) on early intervention (EI). Despite that several international organizations have recommended FCPs be embedded in EI services, researchers on this field have highlighted a recommendation-implementation gap, as well as the need to point investigation on practitioners and intervention variables involved. Consequently, our goals were to describe and compare the practitioners' appraisals on actual and desired practices in Spain and to explore the relationships between practitioners and intervention characteristics and the use of recommended practices. METHODS: A survey including practitioner and intervention characteristics measures was used to obtain data needed. The actual and desired practices were explored through the Family Orientation of Community and Agency Services Scale. The participants were 119 EI Spanish practitioners whose programmes were in the first stages of different FCP implementation projects. RESULTS: Practitioners reported actual practices to be less family centred than they would like, moderately in line with FCP. They reported desired practices as quite close to recommended practices. Intervention characteristics were related to actual practices, whereas practitioner characteristics were not. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the recommendation-implementation gap still exists in our context, as well as in other countries. Intervention characteristics seem to be one of the key elements significantly influencing actual practices, though additional research is needed. A comprehensive framework for implementation is needed to bridge the gap between recommendation practices and the use of these practices.

The Spanish Family Quality of Life Scales under and over 18 Years Old: Psychometric Properties and Families' Perceptions.

BACKGROUND: Family quality of life (FQoL), just like individual quality of life, has become a priority outcome in the policies and services received by persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families. Conceptualizing, measuring, and theorizing FQoL has been the object of investigation in recent decades. The goal of this paper is to present a revision of the Spanish Family Quality of Life Scales, the CdVF-E < 18 and the CdVF-E >18, and describe the FQoL of Spanish families with a member with IDD. METHODS: The sample included a total of 548 families with a member under 18 years old and 657 families with a member over 18. Based on an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) firstly and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) secondly, the two scales' psychometric properties were explored. RESULTS: The CdVF-ER < 18 and the CdVF-ER > 18 comprise 5 dimensions, containing 35 and 32 items, respectively, and they show good validity and reliability. The families obtained a high FQoL score, although some differences exist between the dimensions on which families with children under and over 18 score highest and lowest. CONCLUSION: The characteristics of the revised scales facilitate their use by professionals, administrations, and services.

State of the Art of Family Quality of Life in Early Care and Disability: A Systematic Review.

Background: In recent years, there has been a growing international interest in family quality of life The objective of this systematic review is to understand and analyze the conceptualization of the quality of life of families with children with disabilities between 0 and 6 years of age, the instruments for their measurement and the most relevant research results. Method: A bibliographic search was conducted in the Web of Science, Scopus and Eric databases of studies published in English and Spanish from 2000 to July 2019 focused on "family quality of life" or "quality of family life" in the disability field. A total of 63 studies were selected from a total of 1119 and analyzed for their theoretical and applied contributions to the field of early care. Results: The functional conceptualization of family quality of life predominates in this area, and a nascent and enriching holistic conceptualization is appreciated. There are three instruments that measure family quality of life in early care, although none of them is based on unified theory of FQoL; none of them focus exclusively on the age range 0-6 nor do they cover all disabilities. Conclusions: The need to deepen the dynamic interaction of family relationships and to understand the ethical requirement that the methods used to approach family quality of life respect the holistic nature of the research is noted.

Family-centered practices and the parental well-being of young children with disabilities and developmental delay.

BACKGROUND: Research evidence from studies in North America on the relationships between family-centered practices, parents' self-efficacy beliefs, parenting confidence and competence beliefs, and parents' psychological well-being was used to confirm or disconfirm the same relationships in two studies in Spain. AIMS: The aim of Study 1 was to determine if results from studies in North America could be replicated in Spain and the aim of Study 2 was to determine if results from Study 1 could be replicated with a second sample of families in Spain. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A survey including the study measures was used to obtain data needed to evaluate the relationships among the variables of interest. The participants were 105 family members in Study 1 and 310 family members in Study 2 recruited from nine early childhood intervention programs. Structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect effects of the study variables on parents' well-being. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Results showed that family-centered practices were directly related to both self-efficacy beliefs and parenting beliefs, and indirectly related to parents' psychological well-being mediated by belief appraisals. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The pattern of results was similar to those reported in other studies of family-centered practices. Results indicated that the use of family-centered practices can have positive effects on parent well-being beyond that associated with different types of belief appraisals.

Impact of supports and partnership on family quality of life.

BACKGROUND: In recent decades, Family Quality of Life (FQOL) has emerged as a decisive construct, both to improve the living conditions of the families of people with disabilities and to assess the results on the services and supports that they receive. The aim of this research is to determine the perception of the families regarding their support needs, the quality of their partnerships with professionals, and their FQOL and then identify to what extent the supports of early childhood intervention centers have a positive impact on the families' FQOL while exploring whether the family-professional partnership has become a fundamental intervening factor of FQOL. METHOD: The participants were 202 families with children aged 0-6 with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We used the structural equation model to analyze the influence that the adequacy of the supports and the partnerships exerted on FQOL. RESULTS: The results indicate that the families have language and speech support needs for their children and information needs for themselves, and that they are mostly satisfied with their partnerships with the professionals and their FQOL. Our results also indicate that their degree of satisfaction with the support was a good predictor of FQOL and their ratings of partnership quality was a key factor interceding on this effect. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides professionals and public institutions with guidance when designing plans to improve early childhood intervention centers so the quality of life of these families and the progress of children with disabilities living in Spain become progressively stronger.

Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the family-centred practices scale for use with families of young children receiving early childhood intervention.

BACKGROUND: Early childhood intervention (ECI) centres in Spain recently initiated a process of change towards the adoption of family-centred practices (FCPs). Knowledge about the extent to which practitioners' use FCPs is needed. The psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the FCPs scale were examined. METHOD: A convenience sample of 105 families of children with developmental delays attending three different ECI centres in Spain completed the FCPs scale and provided information about the ECI centre characteristics and practices, caregiver self-efficacy beliefs, and family and child demographic information. RESULTS: The Spanish version of the FCP scale was found to be both reliable and valid. FCPs were correlated with self-efficacy beliefs, parents' involvement in their child's ECI program and family decision making. CONCLUSION: The FCP scale provides practitioners with useful information about their practices, but also has capacity-building consequences for families. The study is a first step for examining the use of FCPs in Spain.

Self-Determination, Intellectual Disability, and Context: A Meta-Analytic Study.

The relation between self-determination and intellectual functioning is complex, as other contextual factors may also play significant roles in explaining variability in self-determination. This study used meta-analytic techniques to assess how self-determination measures vary between people with disabilities classified as having intellectual disability (ID) or not, and contextual variables that moderate this relation. The literature search yielded 16 eligible studies, whose variables of interest were coded and analyzed. The results showed that when comparing self-determination measures among disability classification groups, gender, disability label and race/ethnicity were associated with the effect size estimation. These findings empirically support the relevance of personal variables when understanding self-determination levels and their impact in the operational classification of ID.

How to implement the family-centered model in early intervention / Cómo implementar el modelo centrado en la familia en la intervención temprana

From the results of a research aimed at improving the quality of life of families with a child with intellectual disability, the purpose of this paper is to provide a methodology for the implementation of the family centered model in early childhood intervention centers in our country. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the collected data allow us to systematize the steps or stages that would be necessary to provide professionals and families in early intervention centers with useful tools to empower the families and to enhance the children's development. This article represents another step further from the proposals made by other researchers in other countries with different traditions and culture in the field of early intervention, and intends to reflect the characteristics of our country in terms of the history and the path of early intervention in recent decades (AU)

A partir de los resultados de una investigación encaminada a la mejora de la calidad de vida de las familias con un hijo o hija con discapacidad intelectual, el objetivo del presente trabajo es ofrecer una propuesta metodológica para la implementación del modelo centrado en la familia en los centros de atención temprana de nuestro país. Los análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos de los datos recogidos nos permiten sistematizar los pasos o fases que sería necesario seguir con el fin de proporcionar herramientas útiles a los profesionales y a las familias de los centros de atención temprana para promover el desarrollo de los niños y el empoderamiento de las familias. El artículo supone un paso adelante respecto a las propuestas realizadas por otros investigadores de otros países con tradiciones y cultura diferentes en el ámbito de la atención temprana y trata de recoger las características y la idiosincrasia de nuestro país en cuanto a la historia y la trayectoria de la atención temprana en las últimas décadas (AU)

Using the SIS to better align the funding of residential services to assessed support needs.

Resource allocation in social services has become an issue of the utmost importance, especially in these times in which budgets are tight. The aim of this study is to explore whether the SIS allows for the identification of groups of individuals presenting ID with different needs for support living in residential services in Catalonia, Spain, and if so whether or not a more efficient and fairer system of funding could be considered in comparison with the ICAP. The results show that the six categories of need for support resulting from this study could form the basis for better alignment the funding for those who live in this type of residence according to their assessed support needs.

Spanish family quality of life scales: under and over 18 years old.

BACKGROUND: Researchers, professionals, and families have shown increasing concern with the family quality of life (FQoL) of people with intellectual disability (ID) and their families. The goals of this research were (a) to explore how Spanish families understand FQoL by developing 2 different measurement tools for families with a member with ID under and over 18 years old, and (b) to provide 2 diagnostic instruments that will be useful for designing action plans. METHOD: The study comprised 4 stages: (a) focus groups, (b) expert assessment, (c) pilot study, and (d) normalisation and standardisation. The data were collected in 5 regions in Spain, and 1,205 families with a member with ID took part in the normalisation and standardisation of the scales. RESULTS: Both FQoL scales were consistent and have valid psychometric characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: The scales have a diagnostic purpose for use in designing action plans aimed at producing significant changes in families' lives.