Search

This study is associated with the exploration and description of the meaning for parents who live with and care for their child/children that have a significant learning disability. A qualitative methodology that reflects Husserlian transcendental phenomenology was used to explicate and illuminate the life-world of the individuals involved in the study. A purposive and criterion sample strategy enabled access to two parents and single parent families, who participated in focused open-ended and semi-structured interviews. The search for meaning revealed the existence of three core themes and clusters of associated sub themes that were commonly shared between these parents. The core themes include: being a parent, living with disability and a career in caring. These meanings are discussed in the context of literature that is pertinent to this study. Recommendations focus on the systems and service provision that will enable parents to positively care for their children without the perceived inevitability of adopting unproductive coping strategies, associated high levels of stress and poor well-being. Recommendations also have pertinence for pre and post-basic training, recruitment, practice and policy development. This should be achieved through a better understanding by education, service commissioners and providers of what it means to be in a long-term carer career and the influence this can have on individual capacity and well-being.