How does a mother in a student support team change from being a client to being a partner in helping her child? Qualitative research on a mother's notes

Abstract

The purpose of the present research was to develop a psychological model of how mothers of children with problems change from being clients in counseling into being partners in the student support teams for their children. Using the Modified Grounded Theory approach, the notes that a mother gave a school counselor were analyzed. In those notes, the mother recorded in sequence the situations that her child had faced since birth, as well as her feelings and thoughts about her child and herself, about the sessions with the school counselor, and about how she had changed her way of thinking. From the analysis of those notes, 20 concepts were extracted and organized into 10 categories, which were further summarized in 4 higher-level categories. We were able to identify 4 periods : (1) a sense of alienation, (2) freedom from negative thoughts as a result of being the client of a school counselor, (3) fulfillment of the parent's role as a partner in the counseling, and (4) obtaining an overview of the future for herself and her child.