Backgrounds

• Parents of children with developmental delay (DD) are the key people who makes decisions regarding if and how their child receives services that meet their needs.

• Parents of children with DD may face challenges that result in heightened levels of psychological and chronic stress when providing care for their child.

• Although raising children with developmental delay may lead to increased stress, many families have demonstrated resilience in coping with challenging circumstances.

• However, to our knowledge, there is currently no evidence-based intervention available that specifically addresses the family resilience of parents of children with DD.

Specific Aims

• To develop a digital mental health intervention for parents of children with DD to foster family resilience, using a co-design approach. The sub-aims are listed below: 

  1. To establish a co-design team that is equipped to develop content addressing the needs of families of children with DD, and build team capacity for effective and sustainable collaboration.

  2. To explore the characteristics of families of children with DD in Southern Taiwan, the challenges they encountered while supporting their child with DD, and the coping strategies they used.

  3. To develop a digital mental health intervention with the intended goal to empower parents of children with DD to build their family resilience

  4. To evaluate the usability and feasibility of the digital mental health intervention

Research Design