Explain Siblings’ Lived Experiences in Living with Individuals with Intellectual Disability: A Phenomenological Approach

Introduction: Living with individuals suffering from intellectual disability in families engenders particular concerns, worries, and challenges for siblings. The aim of the present study was to access siblings’ lived experiences in living with individuals with intellectual disability. Method: This study was conducted employing a qualitative method, using the lived experienced technique, and via in-depth interviewing on ۹ siblings with intellectual disability selected via purposive sampling method. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using Colaizzi’s nine-step analysis method. Results: Findings obtained from siblings’ experiences of living with individuals suffering from intellectual disability were summarized into ۶ themes of “fear of the future”, “family turmoil”, “negative emotions”, “positive emotions”, “discrimination between siblings” and “social stigma”, and ۹ sub-themes which were coded in the form of subgroups of ۶ main themes. Conclusion: These findings can provide information for identifying problems, significance, and adoption of supportive and medical strategies for siblings of individuals with intellectual disability to improve their psychological health.

Keywords:

Intellectual disability , Life experiences , Siblings , qualitative research