Parents’ Strategies for Taking Care of Their Child with Disability: The Challenges of Being Parents of a Child with Cerebral Palsy in the Danish Social Welfare System

Being the parent of a child with disability can be difficult. Research with a biomedical approach focuses on intrafamilial or intrapsychic challenges, while the social model and critical disability studies point to social barriers in an ableist society. As a third option, cultural-historical theory...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Louise Bøttcher, Jesper Dammeyer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Stockholm University Press 2025-01-01
Series:Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://account.sjdr.se/index.php/su-j-sjdr/article/view/1154
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1823859416935432192
author Louise Bøttcher
Jesper Dammeyer
author_facet Louise Bøttcher
Jesper Dammeyer
author_sort Louise Bøttcher
collection DOAJ
description Being the parent of a child with disability can be difficult. Research with a biomedical approach focuses on intrafamilial or intrapsychic challenges, while the social model and critical disability studies point to social barriers in an ableist society. As a third option, cultural-historical theory understand disability as relational and changeable in the intersection between persons and specific socio-cultural conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate how parents of children with cerebral palsy (CP) addressed problems at this intersection by developing care-taking strategies in relation to the Danish welfare system. Focus group interviews with 32 parents were completed. Findings showed that parents developed complex and elaborate strategies for how to struggle for welfare services for their child. The consequences of having a child with CP hinge on parents’ ability to learn to manage the mismatch between the needs of their child and social conditions shaped by the welfare system.
format Article
id doaj-art-a35a6a3fa14e432bb597b7160cbc639c
institution Kabale University
issn 1745-3011
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Stockholm University Press
record_format Article
series Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research
spelling doaj-art-a35a6a3fa14e432bb597b7160cbc639c2025-02-11T05:26:15ZengStockholm University PressScandinavian Journal of Disability Research1745-30112025-01-012711–141–1410.16993/sjdr.11541154Parents’ Strategies for Taking Care of Their Child with Disability: The Challenges of Being Parents of a Child with Cerebral Palsy in the Danish Social Welfare SystemLouise Bøttcher0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6697-7274Jesper Dammeyer1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6753-8516Aarhus UniversityUniversity of CopenhagenBeing the parent of a child with disability can be difficult. Research with a biomedical approach focuses on intrafamilial or intrapsychic challenges, while the social model and critical disability studies point to social barriers in an ableist society. As a third option, cultural-historical theory understand disability as relational and changeable in the intersection between persons and specific socio-cultural conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate how parents of children with cerebral palsy (CP) addressed problems at this intersection by developing care-taking strategies in relation to the Danish welfare system. Focus group interviews with 32 parents were completed. Findings showed that parents developed complex and elaborate strategies for how to struggle for welfare services for their child. The consequences of having a child with CP hinge on parents’ ability to learn to manage the mismatch between the needs of their child and social conditions shaped by the welfare system.https://account.sjdr.se/index.php/su-j-sjdr/article/view/1154cerebral palsycultural historical theorydisabilityparents of children with disabilityvygotskywelfare state
spellingShingle Louise Bøttcher
Jesper Dammeyer
Parents’ Strategies for Taking Care of Their Child with Disability: The Challenges of Being Parents of a Child with Cerebral Palsy in the Danish Social Welfare System
Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research
cerebral palsy
cultural historical theory
disability
parents of children with disability
vygotsky
welfare state
title Parents’ Strategies for Taking Care of Their Child with Disability: The Challenges of Being Parents of a Child with Cerebral Palsy in the Danish Social Welfare System
title_full Parents’ Strategies for Taking Care of Their Child with Disability: The Challenges of Being Parents of a Child with Cerebral Palsy in the Danish Social Welfare System
title_fullStr Parents’ Strategies for Taking Care of Their Child with Disability: The Challenges of Being Parents of a Child with Cerebral Palsy in the Danish Social Welfare System
title_full_unstemmed Parents’ Strategies for Taking Care of Their Child with Disability: The Challenges of Being Parents of a Child with Cerebral Palsy in the Danish Social Welfare System
title_short Parents’ Strategies for Taking Care of Their Child with Disability: The Challenges of Being Parents of a Child with Cerebral Palsy in the Danish Social Welfare System
title_sort parents strategies for taking care of their child with disability the challenges of being parents of a child with cerebral palsy in the danish social welfare system
topic cerebral palsy
cultural historical theory
disability
parents of children with disability
vygotsky
welfare state
url https://account.sjdr.se/index.php/su-j-sjdr/article/view/1154
work_keys_str_mv AT louisebøttcher parentsstrategiesfortakingcareoftheirchildwithdisabilitythechallengesofbeingparentsofachildwithcerebralpalsyinthedanishsocialwelfaresystem
AT jesperdammeyer parentsstrategiesfortakingcareoftheirchildwithdisabilitythechallengesofbeingparentsofachildwithcerebralpalsyinthedanishsocialwelfaresystem