I am the mother of the kind of child you dread having
Experiences of living with chronic sorrow among parents with a disabled child
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5158320 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Edith Raap (0000-0002-3660-0564, University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht, The Netherlands), Katie Lee Weille (0009-0002-0736-7705, Webster University, The Netherlands), Christine Dedding (0000-0003-3296-4245, Amsterdam UMC (VUmc), Afdeling Ethiek, Recht en Humaniora, The Netherlands) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 9 |
| Pages | 2158-2171 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Health Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1359-1053 • E-ISSN: 1461-7277 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13591053241292822 |
| PMID | 39545707 |
| OpenAlex | W4404393763 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 34 |
Chronic sorrow involves parents' enduring grief due to their child's disability. This stems not only from the recurring painful reality parents face, which differs from the life they had hoped for their children, families, and themselves but from also being confronted with societal and personal norms and expectations they cannot meet. There is a lack of research on the lived experiences of parents' chronic sorrow. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study involving six parents with severely disabled children explored what it is like for parents to confront being "different." Besides sorrow, the parents experienced intense ambiguity, guilt, and uncertainty while navigating societal expectations and their own perceptions of their children. Their ideas of parenthood and their self-identity as parents proved central to their strategies. This study provides insight into the intricacies of this particular aspect of chronic sorrow in parents, with relevance for research and practice
Developmental psychology · Grief · Identity (music · Interpretative phenomenological analysis · Psychotherapist · Qualitative research · Sociology · Sorrow · Family and Disability Support Research · Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units · Infant Development and Preterm Care · Psychology · Social Psychology
Essentials of interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Learning from My Daughter
Hermeneutics, human sciences and health
The Uncanny Effect of Disability
Dilemmas in qualitative health research
Existence, triggers, and coping with chronic sorrow
Mothers and Models of Disability
It is up to me because I gave him this life’ How the awareness of being permanently and unconditionally responsible shapes the experience of chronic sorrow in parents of disabled children
Achieving excellence in interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)
Analysing one dataset with two qualitative methods
The integrated process model of loss and grief - An interprofessional understanding
Emplotting children's lives
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |