The Occupational Performance of Mothers of Adolescents with Physical Disabilities
Graduation Date
2010
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy
Department
Occupational Therapy
Department or Program Chair
Ruth Ramsey, EdD, OTR/L
Thesis Advisor
Stacy Frauwirth, MS, OTR/L
Second Advisor
Ruth Ramsey, EdD, OTR/L
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the occupational impact of caring for an adolescent with a physical disability on maternal occupation.
Personal, face-to-face, semi-structured, audio recorded interviews were conducted with seven mothers raising an adolescent aged 14 to 17 with a physical disability. Audiotapes were transcribed verbatim, coded and thematically analyzed.
Three themes emerged from the data which include the transition to adolescence brings new caregiving burdens, mother's revolve their lives around their adolescent's schedule and experience stress and worry about the future. The maturing adolescent requires more assistance in everyday tasks and activities and these mothers experience an increase in physical and emotional demands, often resulting in difficulties balancing work, social, and leisure activities.
In conclusion, mothers caring for an adolescent with a physical disability provide more physical support and emotional support to their aging children, than mothers caring for aging typically developing children. Mothers organized their daily lives around the needs of their adolescent, resulting in challenges with balancing their work, social, and leisure activities. Mothers also were concerned and unsure about the future of their adolescent with a physical disability, which impacted their emotional well-being. Limitations of this study include the small sample size, a small geographic area, time constraints, possible transcription errors, and researcher bias since the student researcher has a sibling with a disability.