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      Perceptions of caring for children with disabilities: Experiences from Moshi, Tanzania

      research-article
      1 , 1 ,
      African Journal of Disability
      AOSIS OpenJournals

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          Abstract

          Background

          Although there exist laws, policies and standards in Tanzania that serve to protect and improve the lives of children with disabilities, the individual human experiences and feelings of the carers and parents still remain the realities of caring for children with disabilities. There is a lack of qualitative studies examining experiences in a developing context. This research aimed to fill that gap.

          Objectives

          The objective of this research was to gain an insight into how having a child with a disability impacts upon participants lives and to examine both negative and positive experiences of care through the use of qualitative methods.

          Method

          This was a qualitative, exploratory study and followed a phenomenological method. Purposive convenience sampling methods were used to recruit 14 carers in Moshi, Tanzania. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with all 14 participants.

          Results

          Five main themes emerged from the data which shed light on the carers experiences, namely, objective challenges in terms of financial challenges, employment issues and demands of care; subjective challenges in the form of stigma, isolation and pity; positive experiences such as the child’s progress, respect and happiness; material and financial needs; and coping mechanisms which included beliefs, support and attitudes.

          Conclusion

          The findings of this research were that objective challenges are common and more significant than subjective challenges. Positive experiences were not as easily identified by the participants as the challenges faced. However, having analysed the data, carers do not experience their roles as entirely negative. They simply need the resources to deal with objective challenges which in a developing context are not easily attainable.

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          Most cited references41

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          Positive affect and the other side of coping.

          Although research on coping over the past 30 years has produced convergent evidence about the functions of coping and the factors that influence it, psychologists still have a great deal to learn about how coping mechanisms affect diverse outcomes. One of the reasons more progress has not been made is the almost exclusive focus on negative outcomes in the stress process. Coping theory and research need to consider positive outcomes as well. The authors focus on one such outcome, positive affect, and review findings about the co-occurrence of positive affect with negative affect during chronic stress, the adaptive functions of positive affect during chronic stress, and a special class of meaning-based coping processes that support positive affect during chronic stress.
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            Emerging Criteria for Quality in Qualitative and Interpretive Research

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              Qualitative Analysis on Stage: Making the Research Process More Public

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Afr J Disabil
                Afr J Disabil
                AJOD
                African Journal of Disability
                AOSIS OpenJournals
                2223-9170
                2226-7220
                23 January 2013
                2013
                : 2
                : 1
                : 21
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Centre for Global Health, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
                Author notes
                Correspondence to: Hasheem Mannan Email: mannanh@ 123456tcd.ie Postal address: Centre for Global Health, University of Dublin, Trinity College 7-9 Leinster Street South Dublin 2, Ireland
                Article
                AJOD-2-21
                10.4102/ajod.v2i1.21
                5442575
                28729981
                b04abce9-bb0c-4676-b881-85e457b8a3d3
                © 2013. The Authors

                Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

                History
                : 12 March 2012
                : 05 October 2012
                Categories
                Original Research

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