Holding their own and being resilient: narratives of parents over the first 12 months of their child having tracheostomy. Holding their own and being resilient

Alison Flynn, Karen Whittaker, Adam Donne, LUCY BRAY, BERNIE CARTER

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (journal)peer-review

    4 Citations (Scopus)
    32 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Caring for a child with a tracheostomy can be challenging for parents
    and learning to safely manage their child’s airway can be frightening
    due to their child’s breathing issues, complex diagnosis and the difficult
    decisions they have to make. The aim of this longitudinal narrative
    study was to tell the stories of parents whose child had a new tracheostomy.
    Twenty three narrative interviews were conducted with
    twelve parents from nine families at three time points over a 12 month
    period. Data were analyzed using a socio-narratological approach. The
    stories told how parents were able to ‘hold their own’ despite experiencing
    shock, emotional upheaval and uncertainty during the period
    of their child’s surgery. ‘Holding their own’ was possible for parents
    because resilience played an important part of their journey. Parents
    continued to be resilient as they adapted to being at home and dealt
    with ongoing challenging and stressful circumstances. All of the parents
    told stories reflecting on and recognizing that there were times
    when they exhibited higher levels of resilience and times when their
    resilience was lower. Looking back on their experiences parents appreciated
    that they reframed their initial often negative views about their
    child’s need for a tracheostomy into more positive understandings and
    a future orientated perspective.
    Original languageEnglish
    Number of pages11
    JournalComprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2020

    Keywords

    • Parents
    • Tracheostomy
    • Narrative
    • Resilience
    • Reframe

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