Highlights
- •Focus groups used to investigate needs of parents of a child with a rare disease.
- •Parents felt socially isolated caring for their child with a rare disease.
- •Often parents have to assume the role of ‘expert’ in caring for their child.
- •Parents are frustrated by a lack of knowledge of disease by health professionals.
- •Caring for a child with a rare disease may impact on family relationships.
There are few studies that exist which focus specifically on parents with a child
with a rare disease. The purpose of this study was to better understand the lived
experiences and supportive care needs (SCN) of parents caring for a child across a
spectrum of rare diseases. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to guide the
research, and four semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with 23 parents
(17 mothers and 6 fathers). Participants described ‘feeling boxed-in outside the box’
due to a number of limitations unique to their child's disease, daily practical challenges
in providing care and the various relational impacts of caring for a child with a
rare disease were discussed. The results from this study help to give clearer direction
for health professionals on where to focus future efforts in better meeting the supportive
care needs of parents and their child with a rare disease.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 02, 2015
Accepted:
October 28,
2015
Received in revised form:
October 27,
2015
Received:
September 17,
2015
Footnotes
☆Note: Authors listed in order of importance of their contribution to study/paper.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
