South African single mothers’ experiences of raising a child with a disability

BACKGROUND: Historically, in South Africa (SA), single motherhood has been part of the landscape and continues to increase. Disability in children is also increasing, yet it remains under-researched. Mothers are often left to raise their children with a disability alone, yet their voiced maternal ex...

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Autores principales: Mbanjwa, Siya, Harvey, Clare
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: AOSIS 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10696581/
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ajod.v12i0.1321
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author Mbanjwa, Siya
Harvey, Clare
author_facet Mbanjwa, Siya
Harvey, Clare
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description BACKGROUND: Historically, in South Africa (SA), single motherhood has been part of the landscape and continues to increase. Disability in children is also increasing, yet it remains under-researched. Mothers are often left to raise their children with a disability alone, yet their voiced maternal experiences continue to largely be unheard, particularly in SA. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of single mothers raising a child with a disability in SA. Furthermore, the aim was to explore how these mothers navigate their complex realities and practice of mothering, and to amplify the voices of mothers. Finally, the study sought to shed light on the particular contextual factors that affect single maternal experiences in caring for a child with a disability. METHOD: Twelve South African single mothers raising a child with a disability between the ages of 7 years and 18 years were individually interviewed in this exploratory interpretivist study. Thematic analysis was utilised on the data. RESULTS: The four themes highlight the complex, multi-level strain of raising a child with a disability, which has had a significant impact on the social, financial and emotional facets of single mothers’ lives. CONCLUSION AND CONTRIBUTION: The findings of the study are important for developing a thorough understanding of the needs of single mothers in this specific context as well as their daily experiences as mothers of children with disabilities. These needs include the necessity of psychosocial support and equipping single mothers with accurate knowledge about their child’s disability so that they can make better accommodations for themselves and their child.
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spelling pubmed-106965812023-12-06 South African single mothers’ experiences of raising a child with a disability Mbanjwa, Siya Harvey, Clare Afr J Disabil Original Research BACKGROUND: Historically, in South Africa (SA), single motherhood has been part of the landscape and continues to increase. Disability in children is also increasing, yet it remains under-researched. Mothers are often left to raise their children with a disability alone, yet their voiced maternal experiences continue to largely be unheard, particularly in SA. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of single mothers raising a child with a disability in SA. Furthermore, the aim was to explore how these mothers navigate their complex realities and practice of mothering, and to amplify the voices of mothers. Finally, the study sought to shed light on the particular contextual factors that affect single maternal experiences in caring for a child with a disability. METHOD: Twelve South African single mothers raising a child with a disability between the ages of 7 years and 18 years were individually interviewed in this exploratory interpretivist study. Thematic analysis was utilised on the data. RESULTS: The four themes highlight the complex, multi-level strain of raising a child with a disability, which has had a significant impact on the social, financial and emotional facets of single mothers’ lives. CONCLUSION AND CONTRIBUTION: The findings of the study are important for developing a thorough understanding of the needs of single mothers in this specific context as well as their daily experiences as mothers of children with disabilities. These needs include the necessity of psychosocial support and equipping single mothers with accurate knowledge about their child’s disability so that they can make better accommodations for themselves and their child. AOSIS 2023-11-17 /pmc/articles/PMC10696581/ http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ajod.v12i0.1321 Text en © 2023. The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
spellingShingle Original Research
Mbanjwa, Siya
Harvey, Clare
South African single mothers’ experiences of raising a child with a disability
title South African single mothers’ experiences of raising a child with a disability
title_full South African single mothers’ experiences of raising a child with a disability
title_fullStr South African single mothers’ experiences of raising a child with a disability
title_full_unstemmed South African single mothers’ experiences of raising a child with a disability
title_short South African single mothers’ experiences of raising a child with a disability
title_sort south african single mothers’ experiences of raising a child with a disability
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10696581/
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ajod.v12i0.1321
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