Comparative analysis of the inclusive potential of families raising children with disabilities

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Introduction. The inclusive potential of families raising children with disabilities is included in the terminological space of resource capabilities of support subjects and is a fairly innovative phenomenon. Further elaboration of the conceptual field and obtaining quantitative and qualitative characteristics of parental effectiveness of families raising different categories of children with disabilities is required due to the lack of empirical research in this scientific area. The study was aimed at considering the problem of terminological variability in the conceptual space of the inclusive potential of families and consolidating a number of basic definitions, as well as presenting the results of a comparative study of inclusive parental competence in relation to different categories of children with disabilities. Materials and methods. The study of inclusive potential involved 245 families raising children with disabilities and 264 support specialists. Research methods used were as follows: author’s questionnaires: “Self-assessment of parental inclusiveness” and “Expert assessment of inclusive potential”. In order to establish the significance of the relationships between certain factor and outcome features, the method of analyzing arbitrary contingency tables by means of the Pearson chi-square criterion was used. Results. The differentiation of the conceptual space of potential opportunities of a modern family in terms of resource, rehabilitation, personal and inclusive potential was obtained. Based on the results of the study, comparative results of the assessment of the inclusive potential of families raising children of three research groups were obtained: with autism spectrum disorders, mental retardation and visual impairments. When analyzing data on individual groups of competencies in terms of different target groups, competence fields with high rates of statistically significant differences in assessments depending on the factor of the child’s nosology (p < 0.001) were identified – these were communicative, personal and value-semantic competencies. Herewith, relative homogeneity of the groups was revealed for information and educational competencies; statistically significant differences were not revealed (p > 0.05). Conclusion. The results of the study allow objectifying comparative data concerning the potential of families raising different categories of children with disabilities. Parental effectiveness, considered in the context of family inclusion, is determined through a system of assessing different groups of competencies. The data obtained guide the choice of strategies for supporting families raising children with disabilities in the direction of developing inclusive potential.