Reference no: EM133175167

Question: Found this article to align with the concepts that I have learned about family-centered care.

Reading through the findings of this literature review did not come as a surprise, but I do find it to be interesting that they compared parental manifestations and sibling outcome. Williams et al. (2010) found that 61.1% of siblings had a negative effect, 37.2% had positive effect, and 1.7% had no effect based on the descriptions of their parents.

These results show us that siblings of a child with developmental disabilities struggle more in some aspect of daily life opposed to having a positive experience.

Extending from these results, they mentioned that there is an increased risk for loneliness, anxiety, depression, poor academic performance, anger, etc. for siblings that cope negatively with their family life. Whereas parents described a closer knit family system, increased sensitivity, and increased maturity in siblings with a more positive coping strategy.

As a child life specialist emphasis, we have gone over how to include siblings in family centered care within the hospital. Some of the ways to include them is to do scheduled sibling play.

This creates a fun and safe environment for the siblings to interact and feel comfortable to ask questions. As a CCLS, we are also able to assess where the sibling is at in their coping and help guide their coping skills through play as well. As siblings grow older, they may take on more responsibility pertaining to their sibling with developmental disabilities.

Some of these can include, transportation, changing & feeding their sibling, if they have a GI tube they may learn how to connect and disconnect for feedings, and being a support system for their sibling can become a huge part of their role as a well-sibling.