Becoming a Rare Disease Parent: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Parent-Caregivers’ Postpartum Experiences

Rare diseases constitute a group of conditions that are individually rare, but in aggregate impact between 3 and 6% of the world population. Many of these conditions present during infancy and involve substantial caregiving responsibilities, often assessed via quantitative measurements. However, few qualitative analyses examine lived experiences of parent-caregivers during the early period of their child’s life. The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning that rare disease parent-caregivers apply to the postpartum year using data collected from a semi-structured interview exploring significant experiences over the course of their affected child’s life. We utilized an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach to analyze 22 interview transcripts from caregivers to children with several inherited metabolic and mitochondrial disorders, as well as an undiagnosed disease. Our analysis yielded three superordinate themes: Reckoning With the Parent-Caregiver Role, Familial Transition, and Adaptation and Adjustment. Subordinate themes expanded upon these concepts and included distinctions between the parent and caregiving identity, communal coping and shifting of family dynamics, as well as meaning applied to child milestones, anticipatory grief, and parental perception of a new normal. Exploration of these themes in relation to existing literature, as well as future research directions for qualitative research on rare disease caregivers, is discussed. Overall, this work contributes to a growing body of literature exploring the parental experience of rare disease across several condition contexts.