Feeling stretched: Parents' narratives about challenges to resilience when their child has a tracheostomy.
Alison Flynn, Karen Whittaker, Adam J Donne and 2 others
PMID 37050871WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of children with tracheostomies described moving from shock and constant worry to resilience over 12 months.
Key turning points were recognizing the tracheostomy saved their child’s life, gaining confidence in care tasks, and reframing their situation to find hope.
Key findings
01Early experiences were characterized by shock, fear, and feeling 'stretched', but parents developed self-awareness and grit by recognizing that the tracheostomy relieved their child's suffering.
02Between months 4 and 6, parents moved toward readjustment by developing gratitude for their child's survival and an internal locus of control, allowing them to manage care tasks and social stigma with more confidence.
03By months 7 to 12, parents reframed their experiences, seeing their child as 'normal' and feeling hopeful about the future, indicating that resilience is a dynamic process that evolves over time.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Recruitment was limited to one specialist paediatric hospital in the North-West of England, so experiences may not reflect those in community or non-specialist settings. The sample was predominantly mothers (nine of twelve), limiting the transferability of paternal perspectives. Participants had to be fluent in English, excluding non-English speaking families and potentially different cultural perspectives on resilience. The lead researcher had a prior clinical relationship with all participants, which may have influenced data collection despite efforts to manage power dynamics. The small sample size (nine families) limits the generalizability of the findings.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Funding for doctoral studies was provided by the University of Central Lancashire.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the development of resilience as a guaranteed outcome for all parents. The study describes a specific cohort's journey, and parents who do not show these signs of reframing or confidence by 12 months may require more intensive psychosocial support rather than being viewed as lacking resilience.