{"id":{"repo_id":"uwo","oai_identifier":"oai:uwo.scholaris.ca:20.500.14721/35596"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uwo/oai:uwo.scholaris.ca:20.500.14721/35596","repository":{"repo_id":"uwo","name":"Western University","base_url":"https://uwo.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Mothers' Lived Experience of Parenting an Infant/Young Child with Special Needs in a Rural Context","abstract":"Parenting an infant with special needs requires performing extra care giving duties and mothers living in rural communities face additional challenges obtaining health and social support services. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to explore the lived experience of parenting young children with special needs from rural mothers’ perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 7 mothers. Findings revealed an overarching theme entitled Getting Through It and 6 subthemes: Experiencing the Unexpected; Overcoming the Challenges to Mothering; Unconditional Commitment to Child; The Lived Human Relation as Powerful; Being a Care Co-ordinator; and Being Transformed. Mothers of infants with special needs face unique challenges including long commutes, accessing reliable information about funding and respite services and limited social networking opportunities. The findings can inform nurses, researchers and policy makers developing strategies to mitigate these challenges and better support mothers who have children with special needs in rural communities.","abstract_html":"Parenting an infant with special needs requires performing extra care giving duties and mothers living in rural communities face additional challenges obtaining health and social support services. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to explore the lived experience of parenting young children with special needs from rural mothers’ perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 7 mothers. Findings revealed an overarching theme entitled Getting Through It and 6 subthemes: Experiencing the Unexpected; Overcoming the Challenges to Mothering; Unconditional Commitment to Child; The Lived Human Relation as Powerful; Being a Care Co-ordinator; and Being Transformed. Mothers of infants with special needs face unique challenges including long commutes, accessing reliable information about funding and respite services and limited social networking opportunities. The findings can inform nurses, researchers and policy makers developing strategies to mitigate these challenges and better support mothers who have children with special needs in rural communities.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Elford, Lauren M."],"institution":"The University of Western Ontario","degree_name":"M Sc","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Nursing","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Marilyn Evans"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-01-19","date_published":"2015-01-19","updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:55:54Z","subjects":["Rural","Mothers","Disabilities","Special Needs","Infants","Parenting","Small Town"],"languages":["en_ca"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14721/35596","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Marilyn Evans"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Elford, Lauren M."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2025-07-10T20:39:19Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-07-10T20:39:19Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2015-01-19"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["The University of Western Ontario"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Nursing"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M Sc"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Rural","Mothers","Disabilities","Special Needs","Infants","Parenting","Small Town"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_ca"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14721/35596"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The thesis cover page in the PDF document includes references to Western University’s previous institutional repository platform, known as Scholarship@Western, and links to that platform (beginning with ir.lib.uwo.ca). In citing or referring to this thesis, use the DOI or handle from this page instead. Sample citation: Author name, \"Thesis title.\" (Year). Western University Open Repository. https://doi.org/10.71858/123456."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Parenting an infant with special needs requires performing extra care giving duties and mothers living in rural communities face additional challenges obtaining health and social support services. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to explore the lived experience of parenting young children with special needs from rural mothers’ perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 7 mothers. Findings revealed an overarching theme entitled Getting Through It and 6 subthemes: Experiencing the Unexpected; Overcoming the Challenges to Mothering; Unconditional Commitment to Child; The Lived Human Relation as Powerful; Being a Care Co-ordinator; and Being Transformed. Mothers of infants with special needs face unique challenges including long commutes, accessing reliable information about funding and respite services and limited social networking opportunities. The findings can inform nurses, researchers and policy makers developing strategies to mitigate these challenges and better support mothers who have children with special needs in rural communities."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Mothers' Lived Experience of Parenting an Infant/Young Child with Special Needs in a Rural Context"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Marilyn Evans"],"dc:creator":["Elford, Lauren M."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2025-07-10T20:39:19Z"],"dc:date.available":["2025-07-10T20:39:19Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2015-01-19"],"dc:description":["The thesis cover page in the PDF document includes references to Western University’s previous institutional repository platform, known as Scholarship@Western, and links to that platform (beginning with ir.lib.uwo.ca). In citing or referring to this thesis, use the DOI or handle from this page instead. Sample citation: Author name, \"Thesis title.\" (Year). Western University Open Repository. https://doi.org/10.71858/123456."],"dc:description.abstract":["Parenting an infant with special needs requires performing extra care giving duties and mothers living in rural communities face additional challenges obtaining health and social support services. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to explore the lived experience of parenting young children with special needs from rural mothers’ perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 7 mothers. Findings revealed an overarching theme entitled Getting Through It and 6 subthemes: Experiencing the Unexpected; Overcoming the Challenges to Mothering; Unconditional Commitment to Child; The Lived Human Relation as Powerful; Being a Care Co-ordinator; and Being Transformed. Mothers of infants with special needs face unique challenges including long commutes, accessing reliable information about funding and respite services and limited social networking opportunities. The findings can inform nurses, researchers and policy makers developing strategies to mitigate these challenges and better support mothers who have children with special needs in rural communities."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14721/35596"],"dc:language.iso":["en_ca"],"dc:publisher":["The University of Western Ontario"],"dc:subject":["Rural","Mothers","Disabilities","Special Needs","Infants","Parenting","Small Town"],"dc:title":["Mothers' Lived Experience of Parenting an Infant/Young Child with Special Needs in a Rural Context"],"dc:type":["thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Nursing"],"thesis:degree_name":["M Sc"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:55:54Z"}