Parental and practitioner perspectives on raising an adolescent with a disability: a focus group study

Purpose: To examine the challenges faced by parents of teenagers with a disability to determine the need for a tailored parenting program for this population. Method: Focus groups were conducted with six parents and nine practitioners with experience supporting parents of teenagers with a disability. Results: An inductive thematic analysis revealed close agreement between parents and practitioners and eight understandable and relevant themes. The results indicated that parents have difficulty planning and facilitating transitions for their adolescent children, managing behavioural problems due to these problems being unique to this developmental period and because some of the parenting strategies that were useful when their children were younger were no longer applicable. High levels of stress and feelings of grief were also described. Conclusions: These results suggest that parents of adolescents with a developmental disability could benefit from a parenting program and that an existing evidence-based parenting program should be modified. Implications for program design for this population are discussed.