Abstract
Objectives: The quality of parenting arguably determines the quality of life that a child will live in the future. Although both mothers and fathers are expected to contribute toward raising their children, in the cultural context of sub-Saharan Africa, mothers automatically become the primary caregivers and managers of domestic affairs. In the event that there are children with disabilities in a family, the mother is expected to be the carer. While having a child with a disability places an additional burden on mothers due to the child’s unique characteristics, there is only a small body of literature on mothering children with visual impairments (VI) in the African context. In a cultural environment such as that of Ghana, it is important to understand mothering experiences.
Methods: Twenty mothers of children with VI who were at least 18 years old took part in this qualitative descriptive study. A semi-structured interview guide was developed and used to collect the data, which were then subjected to thematic analysis.
Results: Three themes were identified: opportunities for development, support services, and challenges faced by mothers. While the sample of mothers demonstrated high expectations, resilience, and a commitment toward raising their children, support services were unavailable to them.
Conclusions: While shouldering all the caregiving responsibilities, the participants remained resilient, did not appear to be stressed, and were committed to raising their children with VI.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 299-310 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.
Notes
WIP in RDKeywords
- Attitude
- Children with visual impairment
- Culture
- Ghana
- Mothers