Browsing by Subject "IPA"

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the experiences of parents of children with special needs when encountering professionals and to understand the meaning of these encounters. Child’s special needs affect parents in many ways and there is more parental burnout among parents of children with special needs. Parents of children with special needs regularly encounter professionals from social services, health services and schools and family-centeredness has become one of the values that conduct services planning. Family-centered practices recognizes parents as the experts on their child, acknowledges the individuality of the families, promotes partnership, and are based on the family’s strengths. In previous studies parents described parents as the experts on their child but stated that professionals do not always acknowledge their expertise. System is described fragmented, and parents experience that professionals do not see the complexity of their lives. The study is based on thirteen semi-structured qualitative interviews with parents of children with special needs. The interview material was analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results showed that when encountering professionals parents experienced that parents and professionals had different roles. The roles of the professionals were companion, expert, know-it-all, and border guard. The roles of the parents were expert, organizer, and fighter. System affected encounters as it was experienced fragmented, and it contained different rules. Also, diagnosis and resources affected encounters. Encounters, occupational skills, services, and information sharing were experienced coincidental. Encounters evoke emotions and emotions affected encounters. Based on the results, it can be concluded that from parents’ perspectives there are issues that hinder family-centered practices. Encounters also have issues that increase parents’ burden. System should be improved so that it matches better the needs of the families, for example there could be a coordinating professional. Professionals should acknowledge parents’ expertise and consider parents’ emotions when encountering them.