Caregiving for individuals with neurodevelopmental disability-influence of implicit attitudes and affiliate stigma on expressed emotions

• Main Author: Nee, Michelle Si Hui
• Other Authors: Joyce Pang Shu Min
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology::Applied psychology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90170; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47318
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Focused on the Singapore context, this research investigates informal caregiver’s pre-existing attitude as a direct antecedent to affiliate stigma, caregiver burden and expressed emotions towards children with neurodevelopmental disability (NDD). Study 1 was conducted with two aims: a)to understand self-reported public perception towards individuals with NDD and (b) the relationship among key variables of interest (implicit attitudes, affiliate stigma and expressed emotions. Study 2 was conducted among caregivers of individuals with NDD in Singapore through usage of semi-structured interview and questionnaire to understand the (a) direct influence of pre-existing attitudes and affiliate stigma on expressed emotions and (b) indirect influence of pre-existing attitudes and affiliate stigma on quality of caregiving (i.e. caregiver burden, subjective well-being, perceived social support). In general, participants in Study 1 reported positive attitudes towards individuals with NDD. Analysis of interview data from Study 2 extracted five main themes: 1) knowledge of NDD population prior to caregiver role; (2) thoughts about caregiver role and experience of caregiving for NDD; (3) management of various roles played by caregivers in everyday life; (4) interactions with individuals with NDD and self-concept; and (5) understanding Singapore’s cultural context and attitude towards NDD population. Among the 21 caregivers in Study 2, 13 caregivers were found to be have discrepancies between quantitative and qualitative measures, which suggest possible intrinsic denial of individual’s NDD condition. The preliminary findings of this study suggest a need for developing a research agenda to better understand the impact of implicit prejudice and affiliate stigma on expressed emotions.