The role of parents as informal primary caregivers for children with disabilities often emerges unexpectedly and reshapes family life in profound ways. Despite this significance, limited qualitative work has examined both mothers’ and fathers’ lived experiences in Pakistan. Guided by interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), this study explored how parents of children diagnosed with mild intellectual disability (MID) make sense of, live through, and cope with caregiving. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three parental dyads. Analysis generated four interrelated superordinate themes: (a) From Parent to a Caregiver: Coming to terms with Child’s diagnosis and redefining parenthood; (b) Making sense of why: Faith, Fate and Responsibility; (c) Living the weight of care; (d) Holding on and holding together. This study highlights how sociocultural expectations shape gendered caregiving activities. Mothers primarily assume daily caregiving and emotional responsibilities, while fathers focus on family honor and access to educational or social opportunities. These findings highlight the need for culturally responsive and father-inclusive psychosocial support systems for families of children with MID. Although limited by a small, urban sample, the research contributes to a deeper understanding of how gender and culture influence parental meaning-making and caregiving practices in the context of MID.
Rabbani et al. (Thu,) studied this question.