My Assistant and I: Disabled children's and adolescents' roles and relationships to their assistants
- 1 December 2001
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Disability & Society
- Vol. 16 (7), 917-931
- https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590120084010
Abstract
The purpose of this grounded theory study was to describe how children and adolescents with restricted mobility perceive their assistant with a focus on their roles and relationships with one another. The group investigated consisted of 13 children and adolescents with restricted mobility from northern Sweden, aged from 8 to 19 years. The analysis resulted in five categories: 1, the replaceable assistant; 2, the assistant as mother/father; 3, the professional assistant; 4, the assistant as a friend; and finally 5, my ideal assistant. In each category the child/adolescent was seen in relation to the assistant, i.e. the main story 'My assistant and I' from different perspectives. The findings showed that relation towards/from the assistant were both mutual and non-mutual, and that there were relations that by the children/adolescents were perceived as ambivalent and unequal. The findings are discussed on the basis of the significance of these roles and relations in the children and adolescents' development.This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
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