2025 Volume 28 Issue 1 Pages 13-21
Objectives: This study aimed to identify the challenges public health nurses (PHNs) encounter when responsible for families with developmental disabilities.
Methods: Eleven public health nurses in charge of developmental support participated in semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was conducted descriptively to identify the challenges in supporting families with developmental disabilities.
Results: Six categories are identified. In addition to the challenge of providing direct support to families, such as “difficulty of providing support according to the family’s sense of distress and the stage of acceptance,” there are also issues in ensuring a support environment, such as “the lack of social resources such as professionals and specialized organizations cannot be compensated,” “it is necessary to supplement communication between family members and related parties,” “it is difficult to get support from the people around them,” “there is a difficulty in making comprehensive family support work throughout adulthood and beyond,” and “there is a difficulty in building a collaborative system.”
Discussion: Through direct and indirect support, PHNs recognized the lack of social resources and the challenges of communication between family members and related parties, as well as the issue of comprehensive family support beyond adulthood. In order to support the families of children with developmental disabilities, it was suggested that it is necessary to build a collaborative system that includes in-service education and specialized support for those involved, as well as support from people around them.
