Child Health and Parenting (CHAP), Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Child Health and Parenting (CHAP), Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Res Dev Disabil. 2024 Oct;153:104825. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104825. Epub 2024 Aug 21.
Parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders often experience heightened levels of parenting stress and diminished well-being. However, less is known about the well-being of parents whose children exhibit symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders without yet having a formal diagnosis.
This study aims to deepen our understanding of the need for support among families with young children with neurodevelopmental difficulties. Specifically, it explores parents' perspectives concerning their children, life circumstances, and emotional experiences in parenting.
Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten parents of children aged 2.5-5 years, referred to a child psychologist due to reported neurodevelopmental difficulties. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using qualitative content analysis.
Two themes, each containing four and three categories, respectively, emerged in the analysis: Parenting our child with neurodevelopmental difficulties is tough in so many ways and Prevent, manage and make up like a Pro.
The parents express very similar challenges, difficulties and problems as parents of children with diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders. The main difference lies in the lack of accessible support or help for these parents.
This study provides insights into how parents of children with suspected neurodevelopmental difficulties perceive their child and their overall life circumstances. The narratives show the challenges these parents face due to their children's multifaceted difficulties, leading to a need for multi-disciplinary support from professionals. The narratives also illustrate the strong emotions that arise in parenting, which in itself indicates a need for support. The study also provides further support for the importance of parents connecting with others facing similar life circumstances. The families often feel isolated despite the need for increased informal support in terms of more adults being involved with the children.
儿童神经发育障碍患者的父母通常会经历更高水平的育儿压力和幸福感下降。然而，对于那些其子女表现出神经发育障碍症状但尚未正式诊断的父母的幸福感知之甚少。
本研究旨在深入了解有神经发育障碍困难的幼儿家庭的支持需求。具体来说，它探讨了父母对其子女、生活环境和育儿情感体验的看法。
对 10 名 2.5-5 岁儿童的父母进行了定性半结构式访谈，这些儿童因报告的神经发育困难而被推荐给儿童心理学家。访谈转录后，采用定性内容分析法进行分析。
分析中出现了两个主题，每个主题分别包含四个和三个类别：“养育我们有神经发育障碍的孩子在很多方面都很困难”和“预防、管理和妥善处理”。
这些父母表达的挑战、困难和问题与被诊断为神经发育障碍的儿童的父母非常相似。主要区别在于这些父母缺乏可获得的支持或帮助。
本研究深入了解了疑似神经发育障碍儿童的父母如何看待自己的孩子和整体生活环境。这些叙述展示了这些父母因子女多方面的困难而面临的挑战，导致他们需要来自专业人员的多学科支持。这些叙述还说明了育儿过程中产生的强烈情绪，这本身表明需要支持。该研究还进一步支持了父母与其他面临类似生活环境的人建立联系的重要性。尽管需要增加非正式支持，让更多的成年人参与到孩子的生活中，但这些家庭往往感到孤立。
