Supervisors info:
Αναστασία Τσαμπαρλή, Καθηγήτρια Κλινικής Ψυχολογίας Πανεπιστημίου Αιγαίου
Καλλιόπη Κουνενού, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Παιδαγωγικό Τμήμα, Ανώτατη Σχολή Παιδαγωγικής και Τεχνολογίας
Φιλία Ίσαρη, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Συμβουλευτικής Ψυχολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών.
Summary:
Economic crisis has adversely affected Greek society. The limitation of family income and the shrinking of institutional support grids have a direct impact on the living conditions of the family. This impact often leads its members to experience stressful emotions. According to research findings, economic crisis has also got reverberations on the mental health of individuals (Madianos, Alexiou, Patelakis, & Economou, 2014 ∙ Walker, 2011). This study concentrates on the the parenting of families with a mentally disabled child during the period of economic crisis. In particular, this study concentrates on: a) how parents experience the economic crisis and b) how this understanding is linked to the cognitive representation of disability. Parents-caregivers (N = 8) of adults with intellectual disability were also included in this research. The method of data production in the qualitative investigation was conducted through a semi-structured interview (open and closed type) which included a set of predefined questions (Q = 17). The method of analysis of the qualitative data selected was the thematic analysis with phenomenological focus. Six (6) main themes emerged from the analysis: “day-to-day needs - financial requirements”, “relational family system”, “social network”, “support grids”, “social marginalization and economic crisis” and “difficulty viewing the future”. From the survey results, it appears that economic crisis affects the cognitive representation of the experience of crisis and parenting of children with intellectual disabilities, which generally confirms our research question. The results of this study are consistent with the corresponding results of relevant quantitative studies, which state that economic crisis is linked directly with high levels of distress and with a sense of frustration among family members (Baxter, Cummins, & Yiolitis, 2000).
