SIB-Time Web-application Tool for Typically Developing Siblings

In the United States, over 32.7 million people have special health, developmental, and mental health concerns. Most of these people have typically developing brothers and sisters. Across the lifespan, siblings share high levels of involvement in each other's lives, and also many of the concerns that parents of children with special needs experience, including isolation, a need for information, concerns about the future, and caregiving demands. Brothers and sisters also face issues that are uniquely theirs including emotions (resentment, worry, embarrassment, guilt), peer issues, and family communication challenges. The team of researchers, developers, and consultants built and tested an assistive media enhanced web-application tool for developing knowledge, skills, and routines for attending to TD siblings' (ages 3-5) social-emotional health and well-being.

The investigators conducted a 4-week intervention to assess the English/Spanish, media-enhanced SIBTime web-application tool in terms of its relevance, acceptability, cultural appropriateness, and potential for efficacy to deliver a family-based intervention. The test used a within subjects pre-post design to detect changes in parent self-efficacy, family cohesion, and knowledge, and parent rating of sibling-parent relationship. Additionally, the investigators collected a post-test evaluation of consumer satisfaction and recommendations for modifications to the program.