How Do Employed Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities Balance the Demands of Work and Family Roles? Qualitative Research

Abstract

Parents of children with developmental disabilities face numerous challenges and stressors that can negatively impact their well-being. One of the relatively neglected issues, particularly in the national context, is the difficulty of balancing the demands of work and family for this group of parents. Therefore, this paper aimed to gain a deeper insight into the factors that may be important in explaining the well-being of working parents of children with developmental disabilities in Croatia. It aimed to identify the factors that promote and/or hinder the reconciliation of work and family life for this group of parents. A total of 25 working parents of children with different types and degrees of developmental disabilities participated in the research, which was based on in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The results indicated four groups of factors: social, organisational, family, and individual, that facilitate and/or hinder the reconciliation of work and family roles from the perspective of study participants. Considering that the well-being of parents of children with developmental disabilities is strongly influenced by the specific social context, the results of this research conducted in Croatia constitute an important theoretical contribution. The identification and description of relevant factors that enable the reconciliation of work and family roles and thus shape the well-being of this group of parents provide a strong starting point for quantitative research in this area. In addition to the above, the paper provides a number of practical implications aimed at improving the well-being of this group of parents.