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Updated: Nov 9, 2025

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
"Have We Done Enough?" A Cross-condition Exploration of the Experiences of Parents Caring for A Child with an
Maia Thornton1, Diana Harcourt1, Toity Deave2
1Centre for Appearance Research, Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
Abstract:
Children and young people (CYP) with appearance-affecting conditions/injuries report common pervasive psychosocial difficulties, regardless of cause, nature or extent of their visible differences. Parents or carers can also experience psychosocial difficulties and challenges specific to having CYP with a visible difference. Current literature is confined to exploring condition-specific concerns of parents, typically in more prevalent appearance-affecting conditions/injuries, whilst the experiences of parents of CYP with other visible differences are unknown. Thirty-one interviews (parents n = 20, health and support professionals n = 11) and 4 parent focus groups (n = 25) were conducted. Three overarching themes were constructed: "Appearance does(n't) matter" describes the impact of having a child with a socially undesirable appearance; "Being 'battle' ready" reflects parents' desire to arm their child with resources to manage challenges, whilst "Walking the tightrope" reflects parents' lack of clarity about how best to approach this. Findings highlight shared and common cross-condition psychosocial difficulties among parents and carers.
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