Determining the levels of hopelessness in the normal siblings of individuals who need special education

This research aims to determine the levels of hopelessness in the normal siblings of individuals who are in need of special education. The research was undertaken in Zonguldak provincial center during the 2006-2007 educational school year with a sample of 119 normal siblings of individuals who need special education who attend the 4 private and government special education institution which provide training, education and rehabilitation services in Zonguldak. In the research, the hopelessness levels of the siblings who do not need special education was obtained using Beck Hopelessness Scale and the information regarding the various personal characteristics of the siblings was acquired with the help of `Personal Information Form? which was developed by the researcher. The research design was geared to determine the factors which affect the hopelessness levels in the normal siblings of individuals with special education needs. t-test which is a sub technique of SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used in the analysis of the data derived from the study. According to the findings obtained in the study, there was no meaningful statistical difference between the hopelessness levels of normal siblings of individuals with special educational needs regarding the gender and birth order of the normal sibling and the gender and the level of disorder in the siblings with special needs. According to the findings, bivariate comparisons of the points were done which were obtained from the sub dimensions of hopelessness scale (expectations about the future, loss of motivation and feelings about the future) of the normal siblings of theindividuals with special education needs and the analysis among these comparisons indicated a statistically meaningful difference. The findings were discussed and the implications regarding the applications and practice and ideas for future studies were also provided. Key Words: Individuals with special education needs, Normal Siblings, Hopelessness