The Experience of Hope for Mothers with Speech-Language Delay Children

Hope is an essential attribute for parents to build a positive perspective on children with developmental problems. Due to the importance of hope, this study explored the experience of hope for mother with speech-language delay children. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with six mothers and analysed the data using the constant comparative method as proposed by grounded theory. The results showed that mothers do experience changes in their hope about their child. Mother’s hope is moving between unrealistic to realistic hope, which is influenced by various protective and risk factors. Unrealistic hope is the wrong hope that is not suitable for the child condition (wishful thinking), resulting in incorrect parenting processes. It also becomes a burden for the mother to make it happen. Realistic hope is the correct hope suitable for the child condition, resulting in correct parenting process and not be a burden for the mother to make it happen.