Children’s total blindness as a risk factor for early parent-child relationships: preliminary findings from an Italian sample

Abstract

BackgroundVision provides crucial information for parent-child attunement that scaffolds social development from the first months of life. Congenital blindness might affect both parental wellbeing and children’s behavior during parent-child interaction. In this study, we compared families of young children with total versus partial blindness to understand the link between residual vision, parenting stress and perceived social support, and children’s behavior during parent-child interaction.MethodsParticipants were 42 white parents (21 fathers and 21 mothers) and their congenitally blind children (14 females, mean age = 14.81 months, SD = 10.46) with no co-occurring disability, recruited at the Robert Hollman Foundation rehabilitation centers in Italy. Parents’ scores on the Parenting Stress Index and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support questionnaires, as well as children’s behaviors signaling joint engagement during video-recorded episodes of parent-child interaction, were compared between the Total Blindness (TB, n = 12 children with no light perception or light perception in the dark but no quantifiable visual acuity) and Partial Blindness (PB, n = 9 children with a residual visual acuity below 3/60) groups.ResultsWe found that parents of TB children had higher parenting stress and lower perceived social support scores than parents of PB children. In fathers, total stress and stress linked to perceiving the child as difficult negatively correlated with perceived support from friends. There was no difference in the time TB and PB children spent displaying joint engagement behaviors during parent-child interaction. However, TB children directed their gaze and face less often toward their parents than PB children. We observed a trend of association between this behavior and maternal stress.ConclusionThese preliminary results suggest that the complete absence of vision from birth has adverse effects on stress linked to parenting and parental perceived social support. These findings support the importance of early family-centered interventions that extend to the parents’ communities and facilitate the parent-child dyad’s communication through non-visual behaviors. Replication is warranted in larger and more diverse samples.

Parental Satisfaction with the Quality of Care in an Early Intervention Service for Children with Visual Impairment: A Retrospective Longitudinal Study

“…We hypothesize that the high satisfaction demonstrated by parents in the questionnaires, is the result of the core approach of the RHF based on two pillars: a nurturing relational support and an individualized approach to help the parents achieve better health, well-being and quality of daily life for their children and themselves. Indeed, the Hollman early intervention program focuses on the health of the entire affective-relational family nucleus, giving importance to the needs, difficulties, strengths and weaknesses of the entire family, not just the child [37,39]. This hypothesis is in line with a recent study by Chen and Callahan Groves [51], which highlights the importance of emotional support for families of children with visual impairment in early intervention programs and services, showing how relationship-focused early intervention programs have led to positive developmental outcomes for children with disabilities [52].…”

“…The conceptual roots of this program are the psychological theories on the affective-relational family development [32][33][34] and results of research on neuro-visual interplay during development occurring in children with vision loss in the first months of life [15,35]. These foundations, combined with the long-lasting experience of RHF professionals in their daily work with children with VI and with their families, allowed the implementation of this early intervention program with an individualized nurturing support to the family nucleus [36][37][38][39]. There are no studies that have evaluated how programs with these characteristics are viewed and whether they are appreciated by the families.…”

Gaze Orienting in the Social World: An Exploration of the Role Played by Caregiving Vocal and Tactile Behaviors in Infants with Visual Impairment and in Sighted Controls

“…Additionally, Moore and McConachie [37] observed that mothers conversed less with 18-month-old children who had limited or no vision, offering fewer verbal labels and descriptions. Significantly, these challenges in interaction experienced by parents may further intensify their emotional strain, resulting in elevated levels of parenting stress, depression, and anxiety [38,39]. Consequently, this emotional burden could adversely impact the quality of stimulation provided to the child [40].…”