COVID-19 impact on psychological outcomes of parents, siblings and children with intellectual disability: longitudinal before and during lockdown design.
T Bailey, R P Hastings, V Totsika
PMID 33634520WHAT IT FOUND
During the UK lockdown, parents of children with intellectual disability reported no significant change in their own distress, life satisfaction, or caregiving impact compared to pre-lockdown.
Children's and siblings' behaviour problems also showed no group-level difference.
Key findings
01Parental caregivers who completed surveys during or immediately after the UK lockdown did not differ from those completing them before the lockdown in change from Waves 1 to 2 in psychological distress, life satisfaction, caregiving impact, or positive gains.
02There was no difference between pre-lockdown and post-lockdown groups in change from Waves 1 to 2 in externalising or internalising behaviour problems for either the child with intellectual disability or their nearest-in-age sibling.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study only captured the short-term impact of the initial UK lockdown; longer-term effects of service loss, social isolation, and financial strain may emerge later. Group-level null findings may mask considerable individual variability, where some families experienced significant distress while others did not, or even experienced positive effects. The assumption that the two comparison groups were otherwise similar relies on the pandemic being a random event, though retention bias was partially addressed by controlling for Wave 1 data. Measures were not originally selected for a COVID-19 impact study, which may limit sensitivity to pandemic-specific stressors. UK-specific policies, such as the jobs retention scheme, may have buffered financial impacts during the study period, limiting generalisability to contexts without such support.
Declared interests
The research was supported by non-US government funding. The authors declare no conflicts of interest in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these null findings as evidence that the pandemic had no negative impact on families of children with intellectual disability. The study measured group-level change during a specific short-term window and may mask significant individual distress or longer-term consequences that were not yet visible.