With apologies to anyone who is on the cpparent or cshcn-l lists.  Thought
some of the parents might be interested in this study.

Elizabeth Thiers, OTR
email: [log in to unmask]
homepage: http://www.bv.net/~john/bethsot1.html

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> From: Poscare Study <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Positive aspects of caring
> Date: Tuesday, July 27, 1999 7:44 AM
>
> My name is Helen Taunt and I am currently working as a research
> assistant in the psychology department at the University of
> Southampton, England. I am working on a project with Dr Richard
> Hastings (http://www.soton.ac.uk/~crpd/rh.htm) to develop a more
> positive questionnaire that asks parents about their experiences of
> caring for a child with disabilities.
> Psychologists have begun to accept that feeling stressed as a parent
> can occur alongside a host of positive feelings (pretty obvious
> really!).  However, research in the disability field is still
> dominated by studies of family stress, factors that affect stress,
> and ways of reducing stress for families. This is partly because
> there are no widely available questionnaires that ask parents about
> their positive experiences and feelings. So, the first stage of our
> research is to try to develop such a measure. We are interviewing
> families in our locality but would like to broaden the range of
> families that contribute to this research using the internet as a
> medium.
> We have listed four basic questions below, the answers to which would
> assist us in our research to develop a positively-focused
> questionnaire.
> You are welcome to respond to me individually
> ([log in to unmask]), or to use your answers to develop some
> discussion on this list if you would like to share your views.  The
> answers may be your own thoughts and/ or those of your whole family.
> Of course, any responses you send to me individually will be treated
> as confidential. After a couple of weeks in which time we would
> welcome your responses, we will collate the views of people on this
> list and post back a message summarising these views to list members.
> The questions on which we would appreciate your thoughts are ·
> below.  Please feel free to tell us anything you think  may be
> of interest.
>
> 1. How old is your child who has a disability and
>    with what disability have they  been diagnosed?
>
> 2.  What do you believe are the positive aspects of caring for your
>    child with a disability?
>   What do you find particularly rewarding in your life with your
> child with a disability?
>   What positive feelings have you noticed in
> other family members (e.g., siblings and grandparents)?
>
>   3. Because of the presence of your child with a disability do you
> believe your family has had, or will have in the  future, positive
> experiences that other families may not?  If so, what  are they?
>
> 4.  How do you see the future?  What are your positive expectations
> for  the future, for both your child with a disability and your
> family as a whole?
>
> Thank your for your time and patience. We hope
> that this proves to be a helpful discussion topic for this list.