Resilience in families living with a child diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

• Main Author: Theron, Tania
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 2008
• Subjects: Hyperactive children > Psychological testing; Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder > Diagnosis; Attention-deficit-disordered children
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/655

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) is not a new phenomenon. Researchers have studied children with restless, inattentive and impulsive types of behaviours for over one hundred years. Although the primary distress of AD/HD falls mainly on the child’s shoulders, all family members experience the disorder’s negative effects. While the challenges that families have to face are many, families seem to have the ability to “bounce back” (i.e., they have resilience). There has been limited research to date focusing on the resiliency of families living with children diagnosed with AD/HD. Research on the construct of resilience, and more specifically, family resilience has surged in recent times. However, South African research on family resilience is limited. This study aimed to explore and describe the factors that facilitate adjustment and adaptation in families after a child has been clinically diagnosed with AD/HD. The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation, developed by McCubbin and McCubbin (2001) served as a framework to conceptualize the families’ adjustment and adaptation processes. Non-probability purposive sampling was used in order to gain participants for the study. Twenty-two families participated in this study, providing a total of 44 participants. Participants consisted of the caregivers of a family living with a child diagnosed with AD/HD, between the ages of seven and 12. The study was triangular in nature, with an exploratory, descriptive approach. A biographical questionnaire with an open-ended question was used in conjunction with seven other questionnaires to gather data. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the biographical information. Quantitative data were analyzed by means of correlation and regression analysis, and content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data obtained from the biographical questionnaire. The results of the quantitative analysis indicated six significant positive correlations with the FACI8. These variables were relative and friend support, social support, problem solving and behavioural strategies, family hardiness, family problem-solving communication and family time and routines. The results of the qualitative analysis revealed that social support, adherence to a treatment regime, information and knowledge about AD/HD, a supportive family unit, the caregiver’s acceptance of the disorder as well as communication were the most important strength factors identified. The findings of the research could assist parents in managing their children diagnosed with AD/HD more effectively and has helped create further insight into what resiliency areas they could improve upon. Furthermore, this study could be used as a stepping stone for future research on resilience in families living with a pervasive psychological disorder and will contribute to the broader context of family resilience research in the South African context.