improving the care-work-life balance in parents of a child with additional care needs
Finding a good work-life balance is not an easy task for many families in our current society. When parents have a child with additional care needs, this poses additional challenges in finding a good balance between different roles. Magenta is an organization that focuses on parents of children with additional care needs. They developed a workshop series that aims to provide parents with tools to find more balance in their own life and to fulfill their care role for their child.
What? Four group workshops on the following themes: time, guidance on support options, help from others, and consultation with professionals
For whom? Parents of a child with additional care needs (i.e., with a disability, a severe chronic illness, or a developmental disorder)
Why? To improve the balance that parents experience between caring for their child, their work, and their own life
What is the research about?
What effect do the workshops have on the care-work-life balance and quality of life of parents with a child with additional care needs in the short term?
This study consists of a survey at 3 time points: at the start of the first workshop, 6 weeks after the last workshop, and 6 months after the last workshop. The results of parents who attended the workshops will be compared with those of a control group of parents who did not receive this support.
What are the underlying mechanisms of change in the workshops?
To gain more insight into the reasons why these workshops could work, we are organizing a focus group with the volunteers who give the workshops. In addition, in the final workshop, parents are asked to write down which aspects of the workshops they found most helpful.
What effect do the workshops have on parents in the long term?
Magenta has been giving this workshop series for 10 years. We interview parents who have participated in the workshops in recent years. In this way, we want to map out the long-term effect of the workshops on the lives of families with a child with additional care needs.
In collaboration with
Magenta
Bea Maes, Noor Seghers en Marleen Van Noten
Contact person ACCA
Sara Vanderpaelt
Academic Collaborative Centre for Autism 