FONDECYT project awarded by our associate researcher, Paulina Arango.

“Raising Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities and Challenging Behaviors: A Mixed Methods Study”.

Aims:

• Explore the impact of parenting attitudes and styles on parents’ mental health problems facing challenging behaviours of their children with intellectual disabilities.
• Provide information to better understand the factors related to the high prevalence of behavioural difficulties in children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities, and highlight relevant areas for the design of interventions and public policies that favour the quality of life and social inclusion of this group and their families.

The study has two parts. In the first, 250 parents of children s and adolescents with intellectual disabilities between the ages of 8 and 17 will participate, who will answer questionnaires about their mental health, raising their children, strengths and difficulties.

In the second, 25 parents who participated in the first study will be interviewed, with the aim of deepening their experiences and perceptions as parents of a child or adolescent with an intellectual disability.