Difficulties that Healthcare Professionals and Welfare Professionals Perceive in Mothers with Intellectual Disabilities, and Related Characteristics of Intellectual Disability

This study aimed to identify what healthcare professionals and welfare professionals perceive as difficult for mothers with intellectual disabilities (ID) who are rearing infants, what characteristics of ID cause such difficulties, and what strategies the professionals use when providing care. An analysis of data collected from semi-structured interviews with 13 participants generated the following results. Fifteen characteristics of mothers with ID as perceived by the participants were extracted. They consisted of 12 characteristics in the cognitive domain, including "difficulty understanding abstract things," two in the psychomotor domain, including "difficulty with manual dexterity," and two in the affective domain, including "difficulty controlling expression of pain." Difficult situations for mothers with ID as perceived by the participants consisted of three categories and eight subcategories, including "nutrition" and "safety." Strategies of caring for mothers with ID consisted of nine categories, including "repeatedly explaining" and "sharing designated goals with the mothers." Items the participants considered necessary to improve the care for mothers with ID were "specific instruction tools for mothers with ID," and "collaboration between social welfare, health, and medical systems." We concluded that further interdisciplinary and interprofessional systematic actions should be implemented to improve the care for mothers with ID