Parenting in Cerebral Palsy: Understanding the Perceived Challenges and Needs Faced by Parents of Elementary School Children

Ana Guimarães, Armanda Pereira (), André Oliveira, Sílvia Lopes, Ana Rita Nunes, Cleia Zanatta and Pedro Rosário
Additional contact information
Ana Guimarães: Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Armanda Pereira: Department of Education and Psychology, School of Human and Social Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
André Oliveira: Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Sílvia Lopes: Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Ana Rita Nunes: School Psychology Office, Agrupamento de Escolas da Nazaré, 2450-284 Nazaré, Portugal
Cleia Zanatta: Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Catholic University of Petrópolis, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro 25685-100, Brazil
Pedro Rosário: Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: Cerebral palsy (CP) can be considered the most frequent childhood physical disorder. The severity and type of dysfunction depend on the brain injury. Movement and posture are the most affected areas. CP is a lifelong condition, and parenting a child with this disorder brings additional challenges (e.g., dealing with grief) and needs (e.g., information). Identifying and characterizing their challenges and needs are pivotal to enrich the knowledge in this field and help draw more suitable support for parents. Interviews with 11 parents of children with CP attending elementary school were conducted. The discourse was transcribed, and a thematic analysis was performed. Three themes emerged from the data: (i) challenges of parenting a child with CP (e.g., internal challenges), (ii) crucial needs for parents to cope with a child with CP (e.g., information), and (iii) the intersection between challenges and needs of parents of children with CP (e.g., unawareness). Regarding the challenges and needs characterization, lifespan was the most frequent period of child development, and the microsystem was the context of life most reported. The findings may inform the design of educational and remediation interventions to support families of children with CP attending elementary school.

Keywords: cerebral palsy; parenting; parenting challenges; parenting needs; periods of child development; family life contexts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/3811/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/3811/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:3811-:d:1075474

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().