Modeling the Relationship between Family Interactions and Quality of Life with Resilience Considering the Mediating Role of Social Support in Siblings of Children with Down Syndrome

The birth and presence of a child with a disability in the family and the emergence of special needs have always been significant and controversial issues in the field of psychopathology and social psychology, because it affects the quantity and quality of the relationships of the members and creates a transformation in the usual family conditions. And how family members interact can cause confusion and increase psychological pressure in parents and other children, and as a result, it harms the family's performance and efficiency. All children have needs, but exceptional children have special needs in addition to those needs. living with a child with a disability can have a profound effect on family members. A child with a disability inevitably takes a large amount of the family's income, energy, and time. This issue can affect the relationship between spouses, parents and other children, siblings and other relatives. Meanwhile, people who have siblings with disabilities are greatly affected by this issue. Since the relationship between siblings is one of the longest family ties in a person's life span; It is possible that siblings of a child with a disability resent the extra care they receive from their parents. It is worth mentioning that each type of disability has different and unique effects on the experiences of siblings. In fact, each type of physical, mental or behavioral disability of a child provides unique and different challenges for other family members. In the meantime, the presence of obvious clinical signs in the child's disability can increase the importance and sensitivity of the issue; Because some children with special needs, such as children with Down syndrome, are easily recognized at birth, but others, such as a group of children with hearing impairment, cannot be recognized for a long time. For this reason, siblings of children with disabilities who have obvious clinical symptoms, including Down syndrome, are in a more special situation than siblings of children with disabilities who do not have obvious clinical symptoms. Investigating a construct such as resilience can create an opportunity to pay attention to possible positive consequences in addition to paying attention to the negative consequences of having a sibling with a disability. On the other hand, previous research evidence indicates that the quality of resilience affects the self-efficacy of this group of people. How families deal with them and their type of upbringing and the support that society provides to families with children with special needs may affect the resilience of siblings to the challenges of transformational processes as well as the quality of life among this group of caregivers. In the research literature, the quality of life is a multi-dimensional construct that mental factors along with cultural components, including people's beliefs and attitudes, have an impact on its perception; On the other hand, due to the lack of integrated services and supports from the educational and treatment systems, the type and quality of family efficiency, family interactions and social support are different according to the economic and social status among the families of children with special needs; In addition, there may be a different type of perception of disordered conditions or certain beliefs and opinions among this group of siblings in facing challenging situations that affect the quality of life compared to siblings of normal children. Therefore, due to the special conditions that prevail in families with children with special needs, examining family interactions, quality of life and social support are also very important, and previous researches also indicate the relationship between resilience and family interactions, family efficiency, quality of life and have been social support. In the current research, we chose intellectual disability from among the types of disabilities, and based on the observability of the disability and the obviousness of the clinical symptoms in the individual, we focused on and studied Down syndrome, and referring to the research literature and considering the topics that were raised, the aim The main purpose of this research is to test and fit the proposed model of the causal relationship between family interactions and quality of life with resilience, considering the mediating role of social support in siblings of children with Down syndrome.

In this descriptive-correlation study, the statistical population consisted of all siblings of students with Down syndrome in Ahvaz city in the academic year 2017-2018, and 278 people were selected as a sample from among the statistical population using the purposeful sampling method. Resilience (Connor and Davidson, 2002), quality of life (World Health Organization, 1998), family interactions (Elson and Barnes, 2004) and social support (Zimmet et al., 1988) questionnaires were used to collect data. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to analyze the data and path analysis method was used to evaluate the proposed model.

The results of this study showed that the present model is valid for siblings of children with Down syndrome, and a positive and significant relationship was observed in the direct and indirect paths of the research. There is a positive and significant relationship between family interactions, quality of life and social support with resilience. Also, the indirect effect of family interactions, quality of life and resilience with the mediation of social support has been positive and significant, and it can be said that social support can play a mediating role between family interactions and quality of life and resilience.

The findings of the present study are considered a new step in developing predictive theoretical models for siblings of children with Down syndrome. In general, the results showed that the present model is valid for siblings of children with Down syndrome, and a positive and significant relationship was observed in the direct and indirect paths of the research. There is a positive and significant relationship between family interactions, quality of life and social support with resilience. Also, the indirect effect of family interactions, quality of life and resilience with the mediation of social support has been positive and significant, and it can be said that social support can play a mediating role between family interactions and quality of life and resilience. The findings of the present research are considered a new step in developing predictive theoretical models for siblings of children with Down syndrome and can be useful as a suitable model for developing and designing programs to strengthen their resilience.