Family Relationship and Attitude towards Children with Disability among Households with Children living with Disability in Southeast Nigeria: Implication to Sustainable Development

Abstract

Disability has come to stay with humanity and now placing demand on our technological, scientific, spirituality and humanitarian management prowess and capability in adapting and managing it as global community. However, there are different levels and contexts at which people living with disability are highlighted and practically require our cooperation and assistance, which included family setting. In sub-Saharan Africa and other developing nations, families with children living with disability have found it a difficult task to meet the needs of these ones especially the children. This study investigated the relationship challenges faced by children living with disability among their siblings in southeast Nigeria among households with children living with disability. The study applied cross-sectional survey design; one hundred and eighteen (118) adolescent participants that have at least one sibling with any form of physical disability took part in the study, while attitude towards disabled sibling scale developed by the researchers using some adaptations from the Attitude Scale of Parents towards their mentally retarded children (Govender, 2002). A 2 x 3 x 2 Analysis of Variance (Three-way ANOVA) technique from unequal sample size was used to analyze the data. According to the major findings, there is significant interaction of birth order and Parental level of Education (PLoE) on attitude of siblings towards their physically disabled brother/sister, F(1,108)=7.568, p<.05. Participants who are firstborns with less educated parents 64.40 (SD=7.82), midborns with educated parents71.87 (SD=6.39) and lastborns with less educated parents 59.20 (SD=11.30) all have significantly lower positive attitude towards their physically disabled brother/sister. In conclusion, the study raises some concern about the institutionalization of social stigma against the people living with disability in southeast Nigeria as the product of the families and households relationship with the children living with disability.

Keywords

• Children living with disability
• Family relationship
• Inclusive society
• Siblings relationship
• Sustainable development

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