Individual and Family Adaptation in Taiwanese Families Living With Down Syndrome

Abstract

The primary aim of this study was to examine the effects of family demographics, family demands, and family appraisal on adaptation in Taiwanese families of children with Down syndrome. A second aim was to assess the potential mediating effect of family appraisal on the relationship between family demands and adaptation. Eighty-three families completed mailed questionnaires. Data were analyzed using a principal component analysis and a mixed linear modeling. Gender, family demands, and family appraisal were significantly associated with individual health. Age of the child with Down syndrome, family demands, and family appraisal significantly accounted for family functioning. Family appraisal partially mediated the relationship between family demands and individual and family adaptation. Identification of family factors that influence adaptation will help in the development of culturally sensitive interventions to improve outcomes in Taiwanese families of children with Down syndrome.

Adaptation in families of children with Down syndrome in East Asian countries: an integrative review

“…Only four studies identified their guiding framework; two used family frameworks, the Resiliency model (Hsiao & Van Riper , Choi & Van Riper ) and Patterson's family resilience model (Choi & Yoo ) and one used an individual‐centric framework, the stress and coping model (Lam & Mackenzie ). Two studies were comparative (Cheng & Tang , Gau et al .…”

“…While only one level of adaptation was assessed in most studies, (Cheng & Tang , Choi et al . , Choi & Van Riper , Hsiao ), two levels were assessed in two studies (Hsiao & Van Riper , Choi & Yoo ) and all three levels (individual, dyadic and family) were assessed in two studies (Chiu et al . , Gau et al .…”

“…In addition, in three studies a power analysis was used to justify the sample size (Choi et al . , Hsiao & Van Riper , Hsiao , Choi & Yoo ). Most studies used convenience sampling.…”

“…Aforementioned search strategy initially yielded 40 articles. The irrelevant 30 articles described in Figure were removed and, thus, resulted in final 10 articles of nine studies (two were based on the same study; Hsiao & Van Riper , Hsiao ). These 10 articles were three in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (Cheng & Tang , Chiu et al .…”

“…, Lam & Mackenzie ), four in Taiwan (Gau et al . , Hsiao & Van Riper , Hsiao , Kuo ) and three in Korea (Choi et al . , Choi & Van Riper , Choi & Yoo ).…”