Parents' psychosocial factors affecting their mental health caring for their children with intellectual disabilities

The goal of the study was to explore the psychosocial factors affecting the mental health of parents caring for children with intellectual disability in Benoni, Gauteng. Using the ecosystem perspective as a theoretical framework, the researcher aimed to explore the parent's experience of the psychosocial factors affecting their mental health. A qualitative approach with an instrumental case study was employed in this study, which allowed the researcher to explore the phenomenon of psychosocial factors affecting the mental health of parents caring for children with intellectual disabilities in depth. The participants were parents caring for their children with intellectual disabilities under the age of 18 years, who are utilising the services of Apricot Tree Centre in Benoni. One-on-one semi-structured interviews, an interview schedule and recordings were used to collect data for this study. The interviews were transcribed, and Reflexive thematic analysis was used to inductively identify themes and sub-themes from the data to answer the following research question: What are the psychosocial factors affecting the mental health of parents caring for children with ID in Benoni, Gauteng?.