Caring for Cerebral Palsy Children: Indonesian Parents' Experience

Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) will need help from others to meet their day-to-day needs, which will cause high parental dependence for a long time, and will be physically, mentally, socially and economically burdensome. This study aims to obtain in-depth information on the experience of parents in caring for children with CP. The research method is based on qualitative research with a phenomenological study approach. The participants in the study were ten mothers who had children with CP. Participants were selected using a method of objective sampling. Data collection techniques were carried out through in-depth interviews; data were analyzed using an inductive approach based on Braun & Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis. There are eight themes identified in this study, namely: 1) Psychological Impact on Parents, 2) Parents’ Efforts, 3) Child Dependency, 4) Support, 5) Mother’s Routine Changes, 6) Parents’ Expectations on Children with CP, 7) Success of Treatment, 8) Financial Impact. Further researchers are expected to be able to seek more in-depth data on the categories identified in this study, namely in the category of sincerity, increased worship and external support for maternal activities in the children’s community with CP.