Background: Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is a long-term condition diagnosed before 16 years of age and is the most common rheumatic condition in children. It is reported that children and young people with JIA have reduced health related quality of life and participate less in physical and social activities. Participation within family occupations is vital for a child’s development, however little research has been completed into how JIA impacts the child and the family’s occupational participation.

Objectives: To explore parents/caregiver’s perspectives of their child and family’s occupational participation and how JIA has an impact on this. Barriers and facilitators to participation were also to be investigated.

Methods: The project was approved by the University of Worcester’s ethics committee following submission of the relevant documents. A phenomenological approach was chosen as this encompasses an interpretive constructivist paradigm. This study aims to understand the lived experiences of parents/caregivers of a child with JIA and phenomenology recognises the depth of information that a person’s lived experience can offer to research.

Using a qualitative methodology, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain the perspectives of parents/caregivers. Data was analysed using Thematic Analyse and themes were identified.

Results: Three main themes were found with six subthemes. These were “Just getting on with it” including planning and adapting. Outside support including relationships and support groups. Finally, the impact on mental health including the child’s mental health and parental stress. JIA has an impact the whole family unit which in turn influences occupational participation. The mental health aspect was significant when exploring the family’s occupational participation.

Figure 1.

Conclusions: Occupational therapists and allied health professionals can use the knowledge gained from this study to ensure collaborated approaches with families are taken to address family occupational participation. Holistic approaches are necessary to fully understand the complexities of participation and the potential barriers and facilitators experienced by families. This research has been able to highlight barriers and facilitators of family occupational participation and themes that impact these. Participation is complex with a variety of factors influencing this. The themes of “Just getting on with it”, outside support and the impact on mental health were found to be barriers and facilitators to participation. With participation being an important area of childhood development, it is vital for decreased participation to be addressed by health professionals to fully support the continuing care of a child with JIA and their family.

REFERENCES: NIL.

Acknowledgements: NIL.

Disclosure of Interests: None declared.