Participants
In this study, a wide range of participants will be used. The participants will include students and parents. The highest percentage of the participant will be students and parents who are victims of this situation. To get a clear picture of the effects of mental illness on parents, the research split the participants into males and females.
Sex
In this study, 50 females and 35 males were included. The participants in this study included parents who have mentally challenged children. However, 10% of the total participants included parents of children who do not have mental ailments. Other participants involved in this research include teachers and medical experts in the field of mental illnesses. However, 50% of the total participants were the affected families. This included their siblings and other family members.
Age
Most of the participants involved in this study are students from the university and their parents. For students, the range of age was between 15 to 22 years while most of the parents’ ages ranged from 31-46 years. Most of the students involved in this study were freshmen and 2nd years. Freshmen represented 70% of the total number of students while the 2nd year students were about 30% of the total number.
Nationality and place of participation
All the participants were Americans and this study took place in my school. The participants underwent a pre-recruitment process which involved filling in questionnaires to identify the legitimacy of their eligibility to become part of the study. The sample was obtained through a careful elimination procedure based on the information gathered through the questionnaires. Every participant was given a launch voucher at one of the popular restaurants in the area as a form of compensation.
Materials/Measures
Materials used in this research included voice recorders, writing materials, and a polygraph machine. To measure the effectiveness of the ensuing effects of mental illness on parents, one has to be extra keen on family relationships. This includes measuring the level of satisfaction in terms of accepting the child’s fate. Some parents and siblings of children suffering from mental illnesses have not fully accepted the situation they are in.
This is why some of the children with mental illnesses are kept indoors because the family is ashamed to let them out in public. This is understandable since most people may be ashamed of the blame or embarrassed due to the normal stereotypes associated with the disease.
Acceptance
This is the measure of the level of acceptance of the child’s situation. This will gauge the measure by which parents and siblings of the affected child have accepted the situation
Honesty
This will include answering a few questions to help in explaining the effect thereof. Some of the methods that will be used in this research to measure the effects of mental illness on parents will include a detailed questionnaire that will explore all the angles of responses. To be sure of the participants’ honesty, the polygraph machine will be used to detect any form of untrue responses during questioning.
Effectiveness
Effective measures to examine the effects of mental illness in children on parents are to be used for this report to be effective. This report will utilize the best materials in data collection methods. This will increase the report’s ability to shoe and prove the existence of the said problem.
Satisfaction
This measures the level of satisfaction regarding the participants’ responses. This will include, “very satisfied”, “satisfied”, “not satisfied”, and “indifferent”. The study shows that most of the participants were satisfied with their current situation although a few of the younger parents expressed some level of dissatisfaction in their responses.
Participants’ responses
According to the results from the questionnaires, the participants responded to invariant measures. For instance, in describing their level of satisfaction, most of them were “satisfied” with their current situation. In the level of acceptance which was split on a scale of 1-5 points, most of the participants were responding on a scale of 3 with the level of acceptance placed in ascending order. 1-point represents strongly agree and 5-point represents strongly disagree.
Demography
This study also recorded the participants’ age, school, gender, and as well as ethnicity. This is very important to establish any differences in the prevalence of mental ailments among children from different ethnic groups. In addition, it tells the level of acceptance of and satisfaction from the different ethnic backgrounds.
Design
This research was a semi-experimental study since it involved a field experiment.
The report was designed in a way that all the aspects are covered efficiently. it first displayed the natural effects of mental illness and they will be arranged on a table. Various chart representations were showing the demographics and other relevant information. The independent variable was the prevalence of mental illnesses among children.
The dependent variable was the response of parents and siblings to the occurrence of mental ailment. While the participants could not control or affect the prevalence or the occurrence of the disease, they had control over their responses to it. Through counseling and acceptance of the situation, the participants can easily cope with the situation and be of help to the victim in the family.
During the study, the participants were assigned to different groups and they were given different conditions to deal with. These conditions included parents’ responses, siblings’ responses, teachers’ responses, and friends’ responses.
Procedure
Signing up to participate in this study was made very easy and fast to allow as many participants as possible. The procedure is outlined online on the group’s Facebook page as well as on our tweeter account. This was decided to make work easier and in order, t reach out to as many people as possible. On the students portal, a simple signing-up procedure was also updated. Below the application form, there was a declaration form that confirms that the applicant has read and understood the contents of the terms and conditions of participation.
This was to allow the participants to make an informed consent to disclose their information. The consents for reading “I hereby declare that I have read and understood the terms and conditions of participation in this study and I wish to confirm my consents on the above mentioned conditions.” In this report, there was a specific procedure that was followed in the representation of data as well as a collection of information. Collecting data from the respondents was done through phone interviews and the use of questionnaires.
After collecting the raw data, a critical analysis of the accumulated information followed. After the data was sorted into different piles and examined to establish the different categories, the actual report writing began. The participants felt confident in this particular study as they made their valuable input. Most of the participants were very comfortable with the level of privacy that this study provided. None of them complained or raises any issue concerning the way the study was conducted and the compensation according to most of the feedback we got from the participants was worth the price.
As we concluded the study, we conducted a debrief on an individual basis and every participant was debriefed individually. The debriefing process lasted longer than we expected but it was successful in the end. The procedure included telling the participants about the amount of data collected, the anticipated outcomes, and also thanking them for their cooperation.
The data was divided into several categories to enhance clarity and ease of access to information required. After sorting out all the required information, the report will start with a concise introduction that will introduce the main ideas and give the reader an idea of the content of the entire report. After writing the introduction, the report was broken down into the main body where several points were raised, discussed, and criticized. The contentious issues raised in this report were clearly outlined.
This was to ensure that these issues will be dealt with shortly and discussed in groups to find out possible remedies. Such issues included the use of polygraphs in a voluntary process as well as the possibility of dishonest responses on the questionnaires. After a fully detailed body of content, the report thereafter outlined several recommendations and solutions to the identified problems. After the recommendations, there will be a list of the sources of information on the last page of the paper. This will be done in a precise manner to allow a consistent flow of information to unfold understandably throughout the paper.
References
Wildeman, C., Schnittker, J., & Turney, K. (2012). Despair by association? The mental health of mothers with children by recently incarcerated fathers. American Sociological Review, 77(2): 216-243.