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Welcome! Our newsletter is an opportunity to update you on the progress of the Cerebra 1,000 Families Study and to share recent findings and developments from the family research team.
Cerebra 1,000 Families Study Wave 3
We are excited to announce that Wave 3 of the 1,000 Families Study will be launching very soon! We have also received research ethics approval from the University of Warwick to extend the age range to include families of children over the age of 16. Please keep an eye on your email as you will be receiving an invitation to take part in Wave 3 soon (if you have consented to further contact). If you have any questions related to Wave 3 of the 1,000 Families Study, please do not hesitate to contact us: familyresearch@warwick.ac.uk.
We would also like to say a huge thank you to all of the families who have taken part in Wave 2 of the 1,000 Families Study. If you have consented to further contact from us but have not been contacted about completing Wave 2 of the 1,000 Families Study, or if you have not had time to participate and would still like to, please email the team at: familyresearch@warwick.ac.uk.
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COVID-19 Guided Self-help Booklets
The University of Glasgow, with assistance from colleagues at Lancaster University, the University of Oxford and the University of Warwick, developed a series of guided self-help booklets designed to support people with mild to moderate learning/intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The booklets are free to download here. Alternatively, these guided self-help booklets are also available in Welsh here.
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Current Research Findings
We would like to give you an update on current research and introduce new members of the Family Research Group here at CEDAR.
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 Coronavirus and people with learning disabilitiesMembers of the research team at CEDAR have been working on a project to find out more about the lives of adults with learning disabilities (those 16+) through the coronavirus pandemic. If you are interested in finding out more, the results of this study so far are available by following this link.
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Family relationships and their association with perceptions of family functioning in mothers of children with intellectual disability
Dr Emma Langley, Assistant Professor
Much of the existing research into families of children with intellectual disabilities has focused on the individual with intellectual disability rather than the family as a whole. Therefore, Emma's study investigated three family sub-system relationships (marital/partner, parent-child, sibling) and their association with overall family functioning.
Emma used mothers' responses from Wave 1 of the 1,000 Families Study measuring family functioning, and the quality of the marital, sibling, and parent-child sub-system relationships in 467 families.
Functioning in the separate three family sub-systems (marital/partner, parent-child, sibling) was associated with overall family functioning. How mothers felt about relationships in all three family sub-systems was related to how they perceived their family to be functioning overall. This study shows the potential for systematic family interventions which aim to improve functioning at an individual, sub-system and family unit level.
If you would like further information or you have any questions about this study, please contact Emma directly by email: E.Langley.1@warwick.ac.uk
Modelling triadic relationships in families of children with intellectual disability
Caitlin Williams, PhD Student
Previous research into families of children with intellectual disability has focused on relationships between two members of the family (dyadic relationships - i.e. mother-child, father-child, child-sibling). However, families are more than these dyadic relationships. Therefore, the aim of Caitlin's study was to build on the emerging literature exploring how a mother, sibling and child with intellectual disability may influence each other.
Caitlin used data from Wave 1 of the 1,000 Families Study, with information regarding mothers' mental health and the emotional and behavioural problems of the sibling and child with intellectual disability in 573 families.
Higher levels of maternal distress were associated with increased levels of behaviour problems in the sibling, and higher levels of behaviour problems of the child with intellectual disability were associated with increased maternal distress. Higher levels of household poverty were associated with negative outcomes in all three family members.
These findings demonstrate that different family members' well-being inter-relates in families of children with intellectual disability. The results suggest that introducing interventions that target behaviour problems of the child with intellectual disability may reduce maternal distress and the sibling's behaviour problems. Additionally, further support should be considered for families of children with intellectual disability experiencing household poverty.
If you have any questions regarding this research study, please email Caitlin directly: Caitlin.Williams.7@warwick.ac.uk.
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Take Part in Our Research
Specific Phobias in Children with Learning Disabilities (SPIRIT)
We are looking for parents of children (aged 5 to 15) with moderate to severe learning disabilities where the child has specific phobias to take part in an online survey. A phobia is defined as an extreme fear of an object, animal or situation which is so overwhelming that it interferes with everyday life. We are looking for parents to take part in an online survey about any support and treatment that was offered to your child. This survey is part of a larger project about treatment of specific phobias. For more information regarding SPIRIT, please see the project's information page. If you are interested in taking part in this study, please follow this link.
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Meet New Members of the Team
Paul Thompson, Research Fellow in Applied Statistics
I recently joined CEDAR in September 2021 as a Research Fellow in Applied Statistics. My role will be to support a range of projects at CEDAR, specifically with the statistical and methodological aspects, data management, and supervision of PhD students. In particular, I will be helping to implement longitudinal analyses planned with the Cerebra 1,000 Families Study. I am a statistician with around 16 years’ experience. Previously, I was working at the University of Oxford, Department of Experimental Psychology and conducted research in a number of areas of developmental psychology and genetics, in particular, Dyslexia, Developmental Language Disorder, children with an extra X or Y chromosome, and Autism. |
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