Mohamed Ahmed, Peprah Opoku Maxwell, Almarzooqi Shamsa, Shah Haseena
Department of Special and Gifted Education, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
Al Ain Autism Centre, Zayed Higher Organization for People of Determination, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Heliyon. 2024 May 9;10(10):e30980. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e30980. eCollection 2024 May 30.
Parental involvement is fundamental to the successful inclusion of children with disabilities in social, academic and communities' services. However, very little is known about UAE fathers' involvement in the support, care, and treatment. and facilitation of engagement in the social, academic, and recreational activities of children with disabilities. Importantly, the role of fathers in facilitating children's participations in social services within the community is unknown. The aim of the current study was to learn father's involvement in the life of children with disabilities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
A total of 1027 parents (fathers = 469, and mothers = 558) completed the revised Fathers' Involvement in Development and Rehabilitation Scale, with three sub-scales (support, attitudes, and participation in training). The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 29 was used to calculate means, t-tests, and moderation analyses.
The mean scores showed high involvement of fathers; fathers rated themselves highly on attitudes and support towards their children with disabilities compared to mothers. Also, parental type (fathers vs mothers) significantly moderated the relationship between the support needs of children and paternal support to children with disabilities.
The study concludes with suggestions for targeted training programmes to enable fathers to better support the development of their children with disabilities.
家长参与对于残疾儿童成功融入社会、学术及社区服务至关重要。然而，对于阿联酋父亲在支持、照料和治疗残疾儿童方面的参与情况，以及在促进残疾儿童参与社会、学术和娱乐活动方面的情况，我们知之甚少。重要的是，父亲在促进儿童参与社区社会服务方面所起的作用尚不清楚。本研究的目的是了解阿联酋父亲在残疾儿童生活中的参与情况。
共有1027名家长（父亲469名，母亲558名）完成了修订后的《父亲在发展与康复中的参与量表》，该量表有三个子量表（支持、态度和参与培训）。使用社会科学统计软件包（SPSS）29版来计算均值、t检验和调节分析。
平均得分显示父亲的参与度较高；与母亲相比，父亲对自己在对残疾子女的态度和支持方面评价很高。此外，家长类型（父亲与母亲）显著调节了儿童的支持需求与父亲对残疾儿童支持之间的关系。
该研究最后提出了针对性培训计划的建议，以使父亲能够更好地支持残疾子女的发展。
