Application of Perceived Family Support Scale to Individuals with Special Needs

ObjectiveThis article aims at having data on emotions which individuals with special needs feel during interactions with their families, as well as testing family social support scores for those individuals, and testing the applicability of Perceived Family Support Scale to them.MethodThe Perceived Family Support Scale was applied to 127 hearing-impaired individuals who attend a vocational high-school, a secondary school or a rehabilitation center. The scale consisted of socio- demographical questions and a 20-point Perceived Family Support Scale. The participants were asked to make a selection and a sorting among those points according to the importance level of their preference by using sign language. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software.FindingsOut of 127 individuals participating in the study, 72 were male (56.7 of the population) and 55 were female (43.3% of the population) and their ages ranged between 10 and 20. The average score of the perceived family support was found to be 26 points for all individuals in a scale of 40. The family support perceived by the female participants was found to be higher than that of the male participants. While such factors as participants’ ages, whether their parents are alive and number of siblings have inconsistent impacts on the scores of perceived family support for the participants, the study revealed that whether they live with their biological parents, having parents with high levels of education, having high income levels of the family and participants’ having disabled siblings increase the participants’ perceived family support scores.ResultThe study aimed at gathering data on experiences and emotions which individuals with special needs have during interactions within their families, testing perceived family support they receive, testing the applicability of Perceived Family Support Scale on such individuals. It can be said that the perceived family support scores for individuals with special needs due to their hearing impairment is lower than average scores for normal individuals, which were obtained in previous studies. When we analyze the socio- demographic input and the perceived family support scores of the participating individuals with special needs due to their hearing impairment, we see that living with biological parents, parents’ high levels of education, high income levels of the family and having disabled siblings increase the scores of the perceived family support. Therefore, it is thought that supporting and strengthening those individuals in terms of such characteristics may increase the level of perceived family support.