In this study, the perceptions of parents of elementary school age children with
disabilities, constructs of family-centered behavior (e.g., Petr, Allen, & Brown, 1995) and
empowerment (e.g., Zimmerman, 1995, 2000) were examined. Parent perceptions of the
importance and frequency of an empowerment process, family-centered teacher behavior,
were explored. Previous work of family support researchers is extended by exploring the
effects of parents' perceptions of family-centered teacher behavior on psychological
empowerment, and by considering the relative importance of parent and child variables
and family-centered teacher behavior, in predicting parent psychological empowerment,
specific to the elementary school context.
Parents (n = 256) of elementary school-age children (ages 5-14) with a wide
range of disabilities/special needs completed a questionnaire assessing: their perceptions
of the importance and frequency of family-centered teacher behavior, psychological
empowerment, parent status variables (income and education level) and child disability
characteristics. As hypothesized, respondents rated family-centered teacher behavior as
very important, but they identified that they only "sometimes" experienced it in the
elementary school setting. In addition, a significant discrepancy between parent ratings of
importance and frequency was found, suggesting that parents overall are not satisfied
with the levels of family-centered behavior they receive from teachers. Some
relationships between parent and child characteristics and psychological empowerment
were found. As hypothesized, the importance of parents' perceptions of family-centered
teacher behavior in predicting psychological empowerment, specific to the school
context, above and beyond parent and child characteristics, was supported. Child
disability characteristics (severity of child behavior and diagnostic category) also
contributed to the prediction of empowerment, but parent characteristics were not
important or significant in the final increment of the regression model. Implications and
the potential of this study to inform practice and policy and to contribute to new
directions in research are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/17063 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Robinson, Georgina |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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