Abstract:
Disability is the most painful experience for the mother and relatives when a child is
born. This is because every parent expects a normal child once a woman conceives.
For a mother to be able to cope with their children they need to be supported
emotionally, psychologically and physically by the family members, community, and
health care professionals and other support service providers.The overall purpose of the
study was to develop a model to support mothers of children with intellectual disabilities
in selected institutions of Limpopo Province.An exploratory sequential mixed method
was employed which includes both qualitative and quantitative approaches to guide the
study.Population was all mothers of children with intellectual disabilitiesand health care
professionals from the selected institutions where the research was conducted. Health
care professionals were purposively selected whereas mothers were conveniently
selected. The study was carried out in two phases i.e Phase1(a & b) and Phase 2.
Qualitative results were used to build a subsequent quantitative phase. In Phase 1a,a
qualitative approach was employed using descriptive and exploratory designs.
Qualitative data was collected through individual interviews.Data analyses were done
utilising Tesch’s open coding method.In Phase 1b was quantitative approach wherein a
cross-sectional descriptive design was used.Questionnaireswere developed and data
were collected from the health care professionals in the selected study areas.Data
analyses were done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
version 24 and the level of statistical difference being set at p<0,05.In Phase 2, concept
analysis, model development and validation of the model were performed. Themes and
sub- themes were identified from the analysed data. Current study revealed that some
mothers were fully supported and some were not supported at all by both the family,
friends, relatives, community members and health care professionals. Hence
continuous support was seen to be very crucial to them.The study recommendations
include: open communication, social, psychological and emotional support, combined
available support services, access to special schools and formulation of support groups.
