The Construction of Family Occupations: A Study of Families with Children Who Have Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

Families are the main caregivers of children who have special needs and are essential in the client-centred occupational therapy practice. They also provide the immediate social and cultural environments of their children who have special needs. A qualitative study of daily experiences and adaptations of 17 families with children who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is described in this paper. The analysis of interviews with parents revealed that they developed and used strategies to enable their children' occupational competence. Further, whenever parents reported on the success of these strategies, they also described changes in the daily routines of other family members. The interactions between these enabling strategies and the daily routines of family members are presented and discussed in this paper.