- Social support has a moderating effect on parents' mental health
  -  Supported by positive interactions with family members 
- Building new social networks of support
  - Meeting new people through their children can positively impact the parents' QOL
 

Positive Impact of Social Supports in Caregivers of Children with Disabilities

- Informal Support
  - family, friends, neighbors, and the surrounding community
- Formals Support
  - Professionals and Agencies
- Both are important components in relieving parents' stress
- Can also include emotional and practical support
  - Ex: Childcare, financial support
- Significant in determining the HRQOL in families of children with disabilities

Cedarville University

Emotional support (offers esteem, attachment reassurance); instrumental support (offers material goods and services); and informational support (offers advice, guidance, and feedback).

Primary types of social support

Caretakers use a broad range of coping strategies and some have been proven to be more successful than others. Research is unconclusive as to why certain caretakers manage to cope with their children's disabilities better than others. Significant interactions have been found between coping styles and child maladaptive behavior and their impact in determining maternal depression, well-being, and anger. 

Caretakers and Coping Strategies 

Social support is the availability of people on whom we can rely: people who let us know that they care about, value, and love us and are willing to assist us.

Social support

Isa, S. N. I., Ishak, I., Ab Rahman, A., Mohd Saat, N. Z., Che Din, N., Lubis, S. H., & Mohd Ismail, M. F. (2016). Health and quality of life among the caregivers of children with disabilities: A review of literature. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 23, 71-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2016.07.007

Health and quality of life among the caregivers of children with
disabilities: A review of literature

- Avoidant Coping Styles like disengagement and distraction 
  - likely to promote maternal distress
  - Opposite impact of positive coping strategies
- In one study, lack of acceptance of parenting a child with Down Syndrome was the most significant factor of parent stress compared to other factors

Negatives of Poor Coping Strategies in Caregivers

- Engagement and positive reframing
  - Likely to improve happiness and well being
- Acceptance, religious, and optimist coping styles
  - Correlated with decreasing parent stress

Positive Impact of Coping Strategies in Caregivers

Social support help to contribute to positive adjustment and to buffer against stressors and adversities, including medical as well as psychiatric problems. 

The benefit of social support

Peer support can enhance the number of individuals that a person with a psychiatric disorder can turn to for support, offer a sense of belonging and positive feedback of a person's own self-worth. 

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