Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Care, Telemark Hospital Trust, Skien, Norway; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
Child Abuse Negl. 2024 Aug;154:106947. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106947. Epub 2024 Jul 16.
Foster parents can be placed under significant demands when caring for foster children with extensive needs. Coming to terms with the challenges they have to face can be a daunting prospect. To examine foster parents' experiences is vital with a view to enhancing their resilience amid sustained demands and improving the professional support offered to them.
This study explores foster parents' lived experience of caring for foster children with mental illness and attachment difficulties.
Twenty-two foster parents, caring for foster children aged 2-17, were recruited from a mental health clinic providing assessment and treatment to children.
In this qualitative study, in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed using a descriptive phenomenological psychological approach.
Our analysis revealed four interrelated constituents describing the foster parents' experiences: 1) Wanting to help a child, 2) Adjustments were harder than expected, 3) Sacrifices and suppression of needs, and 4) Commitment and love mixed with ambivalence.
The findings highlight that being a foster parent for children with mental illness and attachment difficulties demands heightened patience, knowledge and understanding. It also involves a substantial emotional investment. This underscores the importance of addressing feelings of love, shame, and guilt in this context. Balancing the needs of the foster child with the well-being of the foster family can be challenging. Foster parents may need extensive support from professionals who are familiar with their unique circumstances to increase their feeling of self-efficacy and reduce ambivalent feelings regarding their role as caregivers.
当照顾有广泛需求的寄养儿童时，养父母可能会面临巨大的需求。接受他们必须面对的挑战可能是一个令人生畏的前景。研究养父母的经验对于提高他们在持续需求下的适应能力以及改善为他们提供的专业支持至关重要。
本研究探讨了养父母照顾患有精神疾病和依恋困难的寄养儿童的生活体验。
从一家为儿童提供评估和治疗的心理健康诊所招募了 22 名照顾 2-17 岁寄养儿童的养父母。
在这项定性研究中，进行了深入的访谈，并使用描述性现象学心理学方法进行了分析。
我们的分析揭示了描述养父母经验的四个相互关联的组成部分：1）想要帮助孩子，2）调整比预期的更难，3）牺牲和抑制需求，以及 4）承诺和爱与矛盾混合。
研究结果表明，成为患有精神疾病和依恋困难的儿童的养父母需要更高的耐心、知识和理解。它还涉及大量的情感投入。这强调了在这种情况下处理爱、羞耻和内疚感的重要性。平衡寄养儿童的需求和寄养家庭的福祉可能具有挑战性。寄养父母可能需要得到熟悉他们特殊情况的专业人员的广泛支持，以提高他们的自我效能感，并减少对其照顾者角色的矛盾感。
