Barriers and promoters of participation in facilitated peer support groups for carers of children
with special needs
Sammanfattning
Background: Social support is essential for physical and
mental health and well-being. Evidence indicates that
social and peer support is particularly important and beneficial
for the well-being of those who care for children
with chronic illness or disability in improving personal
well-being and influencing parent-child play opportunities
and child behaviour and development positively.
MyTime is a government-funded Australia-wide facilitated
peer support group program for carers of children with
special needs.
Aim: The aim was to investigate the barriers and promoters
of participation in this peer support group program.
Method: A qualitative approach was adopted where semistructured
telephone interviews were conducted with
20 group members, four group facilitators and three
play helpers. Interviews were recorded and transcribed.
Inductive thematic analysis of the transcripts was
conducted.
Results: Most group members described gaining significant
social support from group participation. Good group facilitation,
the availability of play helpers, access to disability-
related information and expertise, and the mutual
exchange of support between members emerged as the
most important promoters of group participation. Barriers
included insufficient funding to run the program
throughout the year, too much diversity in group members’
socio-economic position and severity of their children’s
disability.
Conclusion: The facilitated peer support group program
described in this paper appears to confer significant benefits
to carers of children with disabilities and may be a
model for other nations to consider in their strategies to
improve services for carers of children with special needs. Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons.