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Narratives of parents of children with intellectual disability from Croatia– What siginficant events and factors shape the family quality of life?

Definition of family quality of life referes to the extent to which families’ needs are met, family members enjoy their life together and have a chance to do the things that are important to them (Brown & Turnbull, 2000. The Narrative Approach gives an insight into the whole life course of individuals, where the focus is on all of past and present experiences that a person has (Miller, 2000). Life Course Approach is embedded in narrative approach and uses biography method of life stories to collect life experiences and explain the social context (Creswell, 1998. The common focus of social research that pays attention to narrative are: interest in people’s lived experiences, desire to empower research participants and allow them to contribute to determining the relevant research themes and an interest in the process and changes (Elliott, 2005, p.6). In the field of disability, narratives are important to understand identity and the social context (Priestley ed., 2001, p.4). People with disabilities face different life chances and have different life experiences related to specific disabling barriers in their society. To explore the social context that shapes biographies or lifetime trajectories in everyday life of people with disabilities and their families in Croatia the significant life course events model has been constructed in this research, through collecting life stories. The construction of this model was useful for evaluation of social work practice and service delivery in the field of disability and to improve decision making, community and policy practice. This is the first type of qualitative research with narrative approach in the field of disability conducted in Croatia. The focus is on explanation the process of collecting and analysing life stories with parents of children with intellectual disabilities in Croatia based on their significant events, experience of discrimination and awareness of discrimination. Specific social context that defines life course of these families represents the historical influence on societal inequities in Croatian society. Based on these findings some new research questions were opened and certain directions for further research in the area of quality of life of people with disabilities were shaped.

paretns of children with intellectual disability; qualitative methods; biography approach; family quality of life

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