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FINAL DISSERTATION SURVEY TEMPLATE
Family quality of life consists of five elements and occurs when three conditions exist. The elements are the interactions among family members, parenting, emotional well-being, physical and material well-being, and disability related support. The three conditions are satisfaction of families’ needs, enjoyable times together, and ability to do what a family values. Another important part of family quality of life is meaningful integration in the community, so that everyone in the family can live, work, play, and have friends in the community.
Family quality of life depends on three circumstances: the core concepts of disability policy and the policies that reflect them, the supports and services that families receive or do not receive, and the partnerships that families have or do not have with professionals.
Family quality of life also depends on the ability of the family to have the time and emotional support to appreciate how people with disabilities make positive contributions to their families and communities.
Here we describe our research related to family quality of life and the components that are part of quality of life, including fostering the ability of families to have meaningful integration in the community and encouraging positive perceptions about disability.
Family quality of life is the ultimate goal of public policy affecting families who have members with disabilities (indeed, all families). Our work includes
- Researching what families, service providers, and administrators think is important in family life
- Measuring family quality of life
- Studying how partnerships affect family quality of life
- Identifying what predicts and contributes to family quality of life
- Providing practical information for families and researchers related to enhancing family quality of life
- Providing research and information related to supporting families of children with disabilities
Erin McKenzie and her family were pioneers, fighting to include her fully at home, at school, and in the community. Erin, who had Down syndrome, died shortly after graduating from high school, but her life will resonate forever with a profound lesson in self-determination.
Since 1998, Ursula and her husband, D.J., had guided the Pyramid Parent Training Community Resource Center and its mission to educate and empower families facing the multiple challenges of disability, racism, and poverty. Hurricane Katrina, however, proved to be the biggest threat to family support for the families they served.