How do parents deal with their children’s chronic kidney disease? A qualitative study for identifying factors related to parent’s adaptation

BACKGROUND: Parents’ adaptation affects the health outcomes of children with chronic kidney diseases (CKD). Identifying factors that affect parents’ adaptation is necessary to understand their adaptation status. This study aims to explore factors related to the adaptation of parents who have children with CKD. METHODS: This was a qualitative study with a content analysis approach. Seventeen parents of children with CKD were selected by using purposive sampling. The leading researcher performed semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews to collect data. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze data. RESULTS: Two main categories extracted from the data were “adaptation facilitators” and “adaptation barriers.” Adaptation facilitators were supported by three sub-categories: “social support”, “family capability” and “spiritual beliefs”. Four sub-categories of “adaptation barriers” were revealed as: “family-related barriers,” “mental stress by others,” “the chronic nature of the disease,” and “unfavorable treatment conditions.” CONCLUSIONS: Identifying the factors influencing parental adaptation helps the medical staff to make the necessary interventions to support the parents. According to this study, increasing parent access to the required information, supporting them financially and emotionally, and helping them identify support resources can facilitate their adaptation to their child’s chronic illness. Also, identifying and eliminating adaptation barriers can help parents deal better with their child’s chronic disease. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12882-020-02170-4.