The lived experience of family members of children with ADHD : implications for counselling

Abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neuro-developmental disorder estimated to affect approximately 5% of children and 2.5% of adults globally (APA, 2013). It is evident that persistent behavioural patterns of severe inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity have impacts not only on persons diagnosed, but also on individual family members and family units (King et al., 2016; Moen et al., 2016). This study explored the lived experience of eight family members of children diagnosed with ADHD - five mothers, one father and two siblings, through a systemic lens, with aims to bring more awareness to the needs of such population as well as highlight the factors that helped or hindered their experience in means to draw implications for counselling. Interpretative Phenomenological Analyses (IPA) was the best fit for the research aim, since its primary goal is to explore how individuals make sense of their lived experience. The findings suggest that parents experience feelings of loneliness, isolation, burnout, and guilt. Parents described the diagnoses bringing more understanding towards their children’s’ behaviour, improving their relationship, easing the feelings of self-blame, and bringing meaning to their experience. Siblings’ voices narrate lack of recognition of their experience by family members and school staff. The siblings adopted a parental role towards their sibling out of love and need to advocate for their needs. Impacts on family system were also evident from participants’ accounts, extending to division between family members, financial strains as well as shaping family’s’ identify. Participants’ accounts evidence that there is a need to better support such families and family members on societal as well as professional level. Participants experience narrate stigma surrounding the diagnoses of ADHD and judgement by the society as well as experience lack of collaboration with professionals. Participant-elicited recommendations include disability allowance, home support, respite services, peer groups for siblings, parental courses, psychoeducation for school personnel, persons diagnosed with ADHD and their family members.