Step 7: All data material that belongs to each category was put in one place, and the researcher conducted a preliminary analysis
5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations are based on the seven themes that emerged during a one-on-one interview with the mothers of children with SID in the
92
Capricorn district in Limpopo province. The recommendations focus on promoting partner support, research, education, and training as illustrated in Table 5.1 below.
93 Table 5.1: Recommendations
Theme Recommendations to promote partner support
Recommendation for educational and training
Recommendation for research
Theme 1:
mother’s
perceptions of the child’s disabilities
• It is essential for healthcare workers to provide knowledge about SID and other related conditions by educating both parents of the children with SID immediately after the diagnosis.
• The health education should be continuous during a follow- up visit.
• Both parents must be given pamphlets and encouraged to read online sources about SID.
• Both parents should attend awareness on intellectual disabilities at the special
• Promotion of partner support for parents of children with disabilities should be emphasized when training Psychiatric nurses to encourage both parents to participate in caring for the children.
• Further research should be undertaken to assess the knowledge of parents regarding their children with SID condition
94 schools, health institutions or
community
Theme 2:
Mother’s initial experiences of having a child with severe intellectual
disability.
• Professional nurses and psychologists should provide genetic counseling and family therapy to deal with the emotional part of the mothers and their partner’s immediately after birth and throughout development as this explanation could assist them in accepting their children.
• The counselling given to the mothers and the partners should be specific and should emphasize the specific disabilities of their children and the management or care of
• All professional nurses should receive training and in-service training on genetic counseling
• Further research should be undertaken to assess the type of counselling or therapy provided to parents of children with SID.
95 their children throughout their
development
• These might assist mothers and their partners to accept their children with SID and be able to care for them throughout development.
Theme 3:
mother’s
experiences of partner’s support with a child with a severe intellectual disability
• Mothers of children with SID and their partners need to do the following to promote support for each other:
• Acceptance of the child’s condition
• Involvement and interest in the child
• Caring about and loving the child
• Positive relationship with the child
• Emotional support through encouragement
• All professional nurses should provide parent training education
• Professional nurses should receive in-service training on the establishment of support groups
• Further research should be undertaken on the education given to parents of children with SID to promote acceptance of their children’s condition.
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• Sharing supervision and caring role
• Informational support
• Financial support
Theme 4:
Mother’s challenging experiences of partner’s support with a child with a severe intellectual disability
• Partners of mothers of children with SID need to do the following so that they can be able to provide support: by
attending hospital
appointments, attending psychologist and couple counselling together with their mothers of their children, this will assist them in having the same understanding on their children’s condition
• All health care counsellors should receive in-service training on couple counselling
.
• Further research must be undertaken to assess couple counselling on children with SID
Theme 5:
mother’s
experiences of caregiver burden related to partner’s support
• To promote support to partners of children with SID, health care workers need to focus their attention on creating support systems as well as awareness of the importance of partners
• Professional nurses to use social and mass media to do awareness and campaigns about the importance of partner support for children with SID
• Further research should be undertaken to assess services available for partners of children with SID
97 involved in the care of their
children with SID
Theme 6:
mothers’
experiences of coping with caregiver burden related to partner support
• Partners of children with SID should receive the following support for them to cope with their children with SID: social support (support from family members), external financial support (grant money) and spiritual support
• Healthcare workers to form support groups for partners of children with SID in order to share their experiences and their coping strategies with their children with SID
• Further research should be undertaken to reinforce the coping strategies for partners of children with SID
Theme 7:
mothers’
recommendations for partners’
support with a child with a severe intellectual disability
• Health care workers need to give partners counseling immediately after the delivery of a child with SID and counseling should be continued until the development
• To provide health care workers with a couple of counseling
• Further research must be undertaken on family therapy to reinforce the knowledge of partners regarding their children with SID
98 5.5 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The study was conducted in three special schools at Lepelle-Nkumpi and Polokwane municipalities of Capricorn district of the Limpopo Province in South Africa. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to another special school in another province. Data was collected during the COVID-19 lockdown, which delayed getting permission to collect data as the schools were closed for a long time. After getting the permission to collect data, it was not allowed to gather the mothers at the school due to COVID-19 protocols, hence the researcher has to communicate with the mothers telephonically to request them to participate in the study. Data was collected at their home and the researcher had to travel from one village to the other. The facial expression could not be assessed thoroughly due to wearing the face mask.