Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)Arakelyan, StellaMaciver, DonaldRush, RobertO'Hare, AnneForsyth, Kirsty2018-11-072018-11-072019-01-06Arakelyan, S., Maciver, D., Rush, R., O'Hare, A. & Forsyth, K. (2019) Family factors associated with participation of children with disabilities: A systematic review. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 61 (5), pp. 514-522.1469-8749https://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/9048https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.14133QMU Research Centre: FireflyStella Arakelyan - orcid: 0000-0003-0326-707X https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0326-707XUpdate history: 2019-01-09 (Gold OA version deposited, article title updated, deposit exception, publication & AM embargo dates updated); 2018-12-12 (Corrected version of AM deposited)Donald Maciver - orcid: 0000-0002-6173-429X https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6173-429XAIM: The aim of this review was to synthesise empirical evidence of family factors associated with participation of children with disabilities aged 5-12 years to inform the development of family-centred participation-fostering interventions. METHOD: A systematic search was performed for articles published in English between 2001 and 2017 in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Scopus and ASSIA following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guidelines (registration no: CRD42017078202). Quality of evidence was appraised using the Research Triangle Institute Item Bank. Family factors associated with participation were identified and assessed using a multistage “semi-quantitative” approach. RESULTS: Thirty studies were included in the review. Four non-modifiable “status” factors consistently associated with participation were parental ethnicity, parental education, family type and family socio-economic status. Six modifiable “process” factors with consistent associations with participation were parental mental and physical health functioning, parental self-efficacy beliefs, parental support, parental time, family preferences and activity orientation. INTERPRETATION: Rehabilitation professionals should direct their focus towards modifiable family factors as primary targets for family-centred interventions. Strategies that can improve families’ access to information, counselling, and community support services are likely to support children’s participation by empowering families and optimizing their health and well-being.514-522en© 2018 The Authors. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Mac Keith Press.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/DisabilityChildParticipationFamily FactorsReviewArticle2019-01-09