Design, Implementation and Evaluation of an Innovative Pilot Intervention to Improve the Family Quality of Life of Children with Specific Learning Disabilities—A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: The high prevalence of learning disabilities among children confirm that learning disabilities are surprisingly common. In the absence of routine screening, many children still go undetected with a huge individual and family burden, while at the same time, the findings of existing interventions are conflicting. This study reports on the design, implementation and evaluation of an innovative pilot intervention aiming at improving the quality of life of the family of children with specific learning disabilities. Method: For the purposes of this study, we ran a randomized controlled trial employing an experimental research design with two groups (intervention and control). The study population comprised parents of children with specific learning disabilities. Out of the 71 individuals that were eligible for randomization, 42 were allocated to the intervention, and 29 to the control group. A brief parenting intervention model was employed, aiming at improving parenting skills through a stepwise process. The intervention included four skill building sessions conducted over a period of 6 weeks. “Parenting style” (including three dimensions: “Authoritative”, “Authoritarian” and “Permissive”) and “Family Quality of life” (including five dimensions: “Family Interaction”, “Parenting”, “Emotional Well-being”, “Physical/Material Wellbeing” and “Disability-Related Support”) were employed as the outcome measures of this study. Two validated questionnaires were used to measure the study outcomes: “the Parenting Style Questionnaire” and the “Family Quality of Life Scale (FQOL) Questionnaire”. The questionnaires were applied at the pre- and post-intervention level. Findings: An analysis showed that except for the “permissive parenting style”, the intervention and control group had statistically significant differences in all the “Parenting style” and the “Quality of life” dimensions at the post-intervention level. In the intervention group, none of the study dimensions improved at a statistically significant level at the post-intervention level compared to pre-intervention level. According to the cluster analysis, which re-examined successful vs. unsuccessful cases, the intervention was found to have an effect on the average values of all the “quality of life” and “parenting style” dimensions, except for the “Authoritarian Parenting Style”. Conclusions: The study offers evidence on the dimensions of parenting and quality of life mostly affected by a brief intervention as well as on the feasibility, practicality and acceptance of such interventions in local communities.