Family Satisfaction with Early Intervention Services as it Relates to Family Functioning

• Main Author: Nelson, Donna Elizabeth
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2012
• Subjects: Early childhood; Family; Early intervention; Education; Educational Leadership
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1217; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2403&context=etd

This study examined the perceived impact and satisfaction levels of early intervention services of families living in the Appalachian region of northeast Tennessee. Families living in Hawkins and Johnson counties in the northeast region of Tennessee whose children with disabilities had recently exited an early intervention program participated in the study. The primary sources of data collection were personal interviews based on the Beach Center Family Quality of Life (FQOL) Scale (Beach Center on Disability, 2003), the Family Functioning Style Scale (FFSS) (Deal, Trivette, & Dunst, 1998), and member checks. The FQOL contains 5 subscales: Family Interaction, Parenting, Physical or Material Well-Being, Emotional Well-Being, and Disability-Related Supports. Each subscale includes items unique to the subscale that participants examined and ranked (Low, Medium, or High) as to how important, how satisfied, and the priority for support regarding each item. The study focused on and addressed 1 of the 4 categories of family-based practices; strengthening family functioning (Trivette & Dunst, 2000). The findings of this study revealed that families, overall, were highly satisfied with the early intervention services received. The findings suggest that families in Hawkins and Johnson counties valued and found the need for family interaction important. The levels of support regarding individual subscales revealed some variations but maintained consistency within group majority expectations and family requirements. It can be concluded that the perceived impact of early intervention services met the needs of each individual participant in the area of family interaction and the satisfaction level was ranked high.