Abstract
Background: Support groups represent a common preventive intervention for children in vulnerable situations, such as siblings of children with chronic disorders. Little research has been done on these interventions, and how they might act supportive. A common objective of support groups is providing emotional support by meeting with other children in similar life situations and sharing common experiences. Often group leaders do not have formal training in leading child support groups. To contribute to the lack of knowledge and to provide group leaders with well-founded advice, Frambu Resource Center for Rare Disorders initiated a sibling project in 2012. The present study is part of the Frambu sibling project and aims to contribute to the knowledge about emotional communication in support groups for siblings. It is an explorative study comparing youth and therapist evaluations of emotional communication in support groups for siblings of children with chronic disorders or disabilities. Method: Data was collected by the authors of this thesis and their supervisors. Participants, 136 youth (11-16 years) and 68 therapists working with children, rated video recorded sequences from support group sessions. The short video examples portrayed five different patterns of communication found to often appear when children express negative emotions in support groups. Quantitative data were gathered in the form of questionnaires. Results: Statistical analyses showed discrepancies in the evaluations of support by youth and therapists. Perceived quality of support from other siblings was more consistent between the two groups, compared to perceived quality of support from group leaders. Generally, perceived support from group leaders and other siblings was rated as low to moderate, by both youth and therapists. Perceived change in emotional valence and intensity of the emotional expression for the target child in the video sequences predicted both youth and therapist ratings of support, across communication sequences. Other systematic predictors were not found. The mean correlation between perceived quality of the conversations and perceived support was large, indicating some, but not perfect overlap. Conclusion: We identified discrepancies in what youth and therapists perceive as supportive when a child express negative emotions in a support group. Through the examined sequences, support was generally perceived to be low to moderate, implying the need to find out more about what children and therapists base their evaluations upon, how support groups might provide support, and the importance of training group leaders based on knowledge about supportive communication.