Abstract:
Background: Sibling relationships are one of the most important but often overlooked
family relations, impacting emotional growth, social interactions, and overall health. Yet
these sibling relationships can be influenced by factors including the type of disability,
family composition and socio-economic background when one of them has a disability.
Aim: The aim of this study is to identify the relationships between siblings and their
siblings with a disability.
Methods: The study followed a cross-sectional quantitative study design. Data was
collected through a face-to-face survey among 305 participants including siblings and their
sibling with a disability.
Results: A study on gender, age, family size, disability, education, etc. Results: The
findings showed that most of the participants were a male (68.1%), aged between 3–7
years (60.3%), with autism spectrum disorder (38.0%) being the most prevalent disability.
Overall, sibling relationships tended to be positive, with high scores on warmth/closeness
(M=3.03 ±. 540), and low (M=1.70 ±. 641). They found that families that were bigger
than 6 members reported more warmth/closeness.
Conclusion: Age, disability type and educational environment made the most difference
to sibling relationships, with caregiver education and parent occupation seemingly less
influential, the study found. Long-term effects for educational hospital and formulation of
caregiver’s education and rehabilitation should be further addressed in future research to
improve sibling progress. Implications for practice involve considering the development
of family-centric programs that seek to help build sibling relationships.
Keywords: Sibling Relationship, Occupational Therapy, Disability, Emotions
Description:
This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Occupational therapy, Bangladesh Health Professions Institute, Faculty of Medicine, the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
