Bibliometric analysis of psychological interventions with a randomized controlled trial in parents of children with disabilities from 1980 to 2019

Abstract

Children born with a specific disability require primary caregivers who are trained to care for and enhance their abilities. The present study is a bibliometric analysis of the publications of psychological interventions with a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that have been realized in parents of children with disabilities in the period from 1980 to 2019. As part of the search strategy, the Cochrane Library, Pubmed and Elsevier databases were used, making different combinations with the keywords "children with disabilities", "parents", "intervention" and "randomized controlled trial”. The outcomes obtained reflect that 2015 was the year with the highest scientific activity in this field, being the Research in Developmental Disabilities journal the most prominent and the Cochrane Library database the one who concentrates the largest number of articles. In addition, the investigations have been realized in Anglo-Saxon countries such as Canada and United States, with an inclination towards the build-up of articles individually and focused on disabilities such as Down Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Regarding the characteristics of these interventions, it can be summarized that their format is group with an approximate duration of 2 hours per session, being the cognitive-behavioral approach and the behavioral control techniques the ones that stand out the most. Finally, the variable that has been more worked is effective communication and the most used statistical test to measure the effects of interventions is MANOVA.