Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers

Abstract

Active participation in early intervention programs requires mothers to overcome their distress, to stay actively engaged in the intervention and to focus effort on promoting their children�"s future. These day-to-day obligations and demands may affect their wellbeing and self-perceptions. A series of studies were performed on an early intervention program in Israel. The goals of the current study were to return to some of the families who participated in the program several years later, in order to examine their perceptions of the early intervention program while comparing personal (hope, sense of coherence and positive affect) and familial (family climate) resources. The sample consisted of 52 mothers of children with special needs who participated in an early intervention program. They were interviewed and assessed twice � during their participation in the program and 5-12 years afterwards. The questionnaires included the hope scale, the sense of coherence, positive affect and family climate variables. The results demonstrated the stability of the mothers�" personal and familial resources at the two periods. The relations between the sense of coherence and positive affect were mediated by hope. The conclusions highlighted the stability of mothers�" resources, and the importance of the mothers�" hope and their early sense of coherence. The educational implications call for embracing hope strategies and empowering parents�" personal and familial resources in order to enhance effective early intervention.