Transforming partnerships: Parent life management issues when a child has mental retardation

This study was designed to examine three aspects of life management in fami lies of children with a variety of disability characteristics and age range s: (a) effective life management strategies, (b) characteristics /attributi ons of parents who manage life effectively, and (c) parents' experiences of positive transformational outcomes, or ways in which they have been perman ently, positively changed. The research followed a qualitative (interview)/ quantitative (survey) methodology, involving open-ended interviews with 15 parents and analysis of 80 surveys. Effective life management strategies in cluded positive personal reframing, balancing roles and responsibilities, a nd utilizing resources. Parent characteristics incorporated important paren t attributes, decision-making ability, and personal philosophy of life. Tra nsformations were documented in personal, relational and perspectival domai ns and involved image-making, meaning-making, and choice-making.