A study on the construction of the support system for siblings of children with special needs.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study is 1) to modify the American model of sibling support workshop for Japanese, and 2) to construct a system to carry sibling support projects in Japan.Methods: 1) A community survey was carried to know the concerns of Japanese siblings and the need of sibling support projects, 2) run workshops for siblings and evaluated the effects for participants without discussions by adult sibling facilitators and workshops with discussion by professional facilitators, 3) developed two other types of sibling support projects with two parents' groups on developmental disabilities and evaluated the effects for participants.Results: 1) Concerns by Japanese siblings are same as concerns by American and European siblings, and most mothers answered that they would like to send their children to sibling support projects, 2) Workshops without discussions increased the degree of communication between siblings and mothers on disabilities and siblings released from stressed experiences, workshops with discussions run smoothly with some modification, such as, doubled time, writing time before presentation, and small group discussions before an open discussion, 3) Summer camp of siblings with autistic children covered loneliness of siblings and provided some opportunities for participants to share faced experiences and feelings on sibling concerns.Discussion: These results suggest that 1) at least one sibling support workshop is required by Japanese parents and siblings for every city, 2) workshops for siblings are effective to decrease loneliness of siblings and increase communication opportunities between siblings and their mothers, even without discussion activities, 3 other types of sibling support projects, except workshops are expected to work effective, such as summer camps and out-going activities.