Fostering Awareness and Acceptance of Disability in Mexican Mothers of Autistic Children

Abstract

The arrival of a disabled child is overwhelming to any family; it is often a shocking event that impacts the life cycle of the family. Several studies highlight the support that must be provided to parents of children with disabilities. In Mexico, this support is not often promoted in a successfully way neither in official nor private institutions. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a special assistance program carried out with five autistic children' mothers, aged between 28 and 43 years (Mage = 35.4). Attention was focused on: family functioning, knowledge and acceptance of disability. We used a mixed design with a concurrent triangulation; the study was non-experimental, ex post facto, descriptive, and cross-cutting. The main findings show that this program had a positive effect on mothers and several changes regarding the studied variables were observed. It was important to highlight that there was one unexpected result: the personal and group empowerment that enabled the participants, on the one hand, to acknowledge themselves as women in a couple relationship and not only as mothers of their disabled child, and, on the other hand, to form a network of mothers who can look for legal and administrative protection for their autistic children.

Dance Intervention for Mexican Family Caregivers of Children With Developmental Disability: A Pilot Study

“…Care of children with disabilities is often provided by the family (Duran, Cottone, Ruzek, Mashburn, & Grissmer, 2018; Fernández, Enriquez, Huerta, & Castellanos, 2016; Flóres-Torres, Montalvo-Prieto, Herrera-Lian, & Romero-Massa, 2010; Guevara-Benites & González-Soto, 2012). In Mexican families, results of studies (Fernández, Enriquez, Huerta, et al, 2016; Rea-Amaya & Acle-Tomasini, 2014) have shown that mothers are likely the caregivers who provide physical and emotional support toward the children with developmental disability. The mothers are often responsible for providing personal hygiene and administering and monitoring medical treatments (Amaya & Tomasini, 2014; Crettenden, Wright, & Skinner, 2013; Deater-Deckard, Li, & Bell, 2015; Fávero-Nunes & dos Santos, 2010; Marre, Monnet, & San Román, 2015; Munsell, Kilmer, Cook, & Reeve, 2012).…”

“…In Mexican families, results of studies (Fernández, Enriquez, Huerta, et al, 2016; Rea-Amaya & Acle-Tomasini, 2014) have shown that mothers are likely the caregivers who provide physical and emotional support toward the children with developmental disability. The mothers are often responsible for providing personal hygiene and administering and monitoring medical treatments (Amaya & Tomasini, 2014; Crettenden, Wright, & Skinner, 2013; Deater-Deckard, Li, & Bell, 2015; Fávero-Nunes & dos Santos, 2010; Marre, Monnet, & San Román, 2015; Munsell, Kilmer, Cook, & Reeve, 2012). Caregiving is done in addition to other responsibilities that mothers have for the rest of the family.…”