Models of service support for parents of disabled children. What do we know? What do we need to know?

Research carried out over a number of years provides a consistent picture o f the experiences and needs of parents of disabled children, Recent studies , based on models of stress and coping, have identified factors which relat e to high or low levels of parental distress. Whilst this research can prov ide useful information for service development, there appears to have been little change over the years in parents' reports of unmet need. It is clear that parental need covers a wide range of aspects of family life and holis tic models of service support are required. Although evaluation studies whi ch identify models of services that can change this situation are few, ther e are positive examples of models of support. The paper reviews the finding s of such evaluation and identifies a number of important characteristics o f effective service models.