Exploring the lived experience and spiritual lives of parents of children with disability in Oman

Background: In Oman, spiritual beliefs play an important role in society, however, there is limited understanding of how spirituality influences the lived experience of parents who care for children with disability. Parents of children with disability, like all parents, experience joyful and challenging aspects of parenting. However, raising a child with disability is generally associated with increased care-giving demands and parental stress. The parents’ spiritualty may impact their beliefs, behaviours and feelings and therefore may influence the way that parents respond to these demands.
Aim: To explore the meaning and experience of spirituality amongst parents of children with disability in Oman.
Methods: A qualitative study using in-depth interviews (n=11) and photovoice. Eleven parents of children with disability engaged in the photo-taking task and captured photographs that represented their spirituality. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the interview transcripts and the participants’ photographs.
Findings: A comprehensive description of participants’ spirituality embedded within their lived experience was constructed from the data and three group themes related to their spirituality were identified: Understanding disability through a spiritual lens; managing tensions at the intersection of spirituality and disability; and drawing on spirituality to overcome challenges in accessing and using services. The parents outlined their spirituality as an overarching perspective that goes beyond religious affiliation. Their spirituality appeared to foster hope, optimism, determination, and positive meaning-making and thereby, operated as a coping mechanism. However, spiritual experiences also gave rise to spiritual and emotional struggles.
Conclusions: This study sheds light on the influence of spirituality on the lived experiences of parents of children with disability in Oman. The findings highlight the existing joys, challenges and fears emerging from the parenting experience and may pave the way to transfer findings into opportunities to improve service provision in the social and healthcare sectors.