| The attitudes and beliefs of immigrant Chinese families of children with disabilities were investigated using three theoretical models of disability: moral model, defined as disability is a test of a family's religious faith; medical model, defined as an abnormal or pathological defect; and social model, where disability is seen as a social construct. All 12 of the participants were Medi-Cal eligible, monolingual Chinese (Cantonese) speaking parents. The attitudes and beliefs of the families were analyzed using the questionnaire titled Assessing the Immigrant Chinese Parents ' Model of Disability , which elicited open-ended discussions and questioning during an informal interview.;Results indicated the immigrant Chinese families ascribed to the social model of disability. This highlights the families' strength and advocacy for their child with a disability, despite not understanding or fluently speaking the English language. The medical and moral models were shown to be second and third, respectively.;Themes of the medical model posit immigrant Chinese American families have come to terms with accepting a medical etiology for understanding their child's disability. The thematic moral model conclusions reflect some cultural traditional beliefs of superstitions causing a child's disability.;In addition, a combination of the existing models was also investigated. They are the hybrids moral-medical, medical-social, and moral-social models of disability. The combined medical-social and moral-social hybrid models were the predominant hybrid models utilized.;Used to elicit specific themes for each model were the methodological procedures of grounded theory. Participant narratives and themes were collected for each of the three theoretical models, along with three additional combined hybrid models, the moral-medical, medical-social, and moral-social models.;Results of the present study indicated if immigrant Chinese families were in agreement with the medical model's explanation for their child's disability, they were inclined to be self-reliant and initiated stronger self-advocacy for their child with a disability. With adherence to the thinking patterns of the social model, simultaneous beliefs include understanding the crucial need to advocate for their child with a disability due to influences of psycho-education, as presented in the moral-social hybrid model. The combined moral-medical model was least utilized in this study. |
