Development of a battery for parental experiences related to health and education services on learning difficulties: The Parental Experience Battery for Learning Difficulty (PEBLED)

In this study, which aims to measure the quality of life of parents of children between the ages of 6 and 14, who are diagnosed with learning difficulties, by examining the parents' experiences in the process of accessing education and health services in a multidimensional way, the Parent Experience Battery for Learning Disabilities (PEBLED) was developed by the researcher. The battery consists of nine scales: Bullying, Information Sources, Referral Support, Perceived Social Support from Services, Facilitators, Obstacles / Difficulties, Fear of Stigma, Satisfaction with Services. The first part of this study carried out using mixed method which contains 17-question interview questions prepared by the researcher based on the literature review, interviews with some non-governmental organizations and the parents of children diagnosed with learning difficulties, the answers were analyzed using content analysis method. The second part of the research is developing the scale according to the nine themes determined after the content analysis, which was piloted with seven people, and then, applied a total of 80 people. The data is obtained by interviewing the parents at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic of Istanbul University Istanbul Medical Faculty. World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF) was used for parents as well as PEBLED developed by the researcher. Within the scope of the construct validity, the total scores of this form were used by looking at its correlation with the WHO Short Form of Quality of Life. The Parental Experience Battery for Learning Disabilities (PEBLED), which consists of nine scales, provided evidence that it can be used as a valid and reliable measurement tool to evaluate the experiences of parents of children diagnosed with learning difficulties in the process of accessing education and health services.