Co-occupations: An Open Window to the World of Caring of Children with Cerebral Palsy

Co-occupation is defined as engagement of two or more people in an occupation, who are acting within the same time and the nature of engagement. It involves shared physicality, shared emotionality, and shared intentionality, embedded in a shared meaning. This study was conducted in Iranian context to explore the co-occupations of mothers of children with cerebral palsy (CP) as experienced by children, mothers and occupational therapists (OT). This qualitative research is a part of a big Grounded Theory study. Three children, thirteen mothers and six OTs participated in the study. The data collected via in-depth semi- structured interviews and two observations at home and clinic and three video tapes and one diary. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling following by theoretical sampling. A qualitative content analysis approach was conducted to analyze data by using the constant comparative analysis. In total, 695 initial or open codes were extracted. The results were categorized in four central themes that were identified as; (1) facing with Self care problems, (2) effort to gain treatment follow-up, (3) coping challenges of educational care, and (4) parental limited personal leisure time. The concept of Co-occupation has extended our attitude to specific care for children with CP and has enhanced child care services and also greater awareness of barriers the mothers are faced to.