Problems of Siblings of People With Disabilities and Support Strategies for Them

Abstract

The purpose of the present article, a review of problems that siblings of people with disabilities have and the trend in supports for them, is to suggest future strategies of support. On the basis of the review, it was suggested that the main support conventionally provided for siblings of people with disabilities has been psychosocial support, such as establishing an opportunity for interchange with other people in the same situation in order to reduce their anxieties and distress. In contrast, the review revealed that educational supports that are aimed at teaching about the characteristics of people with disabilities and how to communicate with them are not systematically conducted either domestically or internationally, because of the lack of guidelines for the support procedures and of indices of their effectiveness. The present review concluded that it is necessary to build the contents of educational support for siblings of people with disabilities systematically, including matters such as when and what kind of information should be presented to the siblings by the supporters. It appears that parents have considerable influence on siblings' understanding of disabilities. Therefore, it is also suggested that the extent of the parents' understanding of people with disabilities and the content of their explanations to their other children should be examined when considering supports for the siblings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract)