TITLE:
The Unplanned Journey: Challenges of Parents of Children Living with Disabilities in Ghana
AUTHORS:
Theresa Antwi
KEYWORDS:
Challenges, Parents, Children, Disabilities, Counselling
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.14 No.4,
April
28,
2023
ABSTRACT: Raising a disabled child is demanding and difficult. Parents may face a variety of challenges due to their child’s disability. This may have substantial psychological effects on a parent’s life. As a result, this study concentrated on the parents of disabled children at the Don Bosco basic school in Winneba, Ghana’s Central Region. Phenomenology was employed in this qualitative investigation as a design strategy. The study included a sample of 6 parents of disabled children. The participants were chosen by convenience sampling. The information was gathered through unstructured interviews, after which it underwent a thematic analysis. Results indicated that parents had favorable opinions of their disabled children. They also experienced considerable problems with money, discrimination, physical exhaustion, a lack of time to seek lucrative work options, and loneliness. Again, the use of family support, social support (churches) and spirituality were these parents’ main coping mechanisms. Additionally, the school counselor did not provide counselling to parents of disabled children in coping with the challenges they face. It was recommended that school counsellors are to assess the barriers that parents and their children with disabilities confront in society and offer assistance so that parents would view these issues as an opportunity to continue caring for their disabled children and also uncover any hidden talents in them.