The process of adaptation of maternity / fatherhood in the care of children with special needs

This study is guided by the following question: How is the process of adapting parents to care for children with special needs? In order to answer this question, we aim to: describe and analyze the adaptation process of parents in relation to the care of children with special needs, and it is justified by the importance of the possibility of raising discussions and improvements in care proposals for the population of research study. This is a qualitative case study. The sample consisted of a couple of parents with a child with special needs, living in Arniqueiras - Distrito Federal, Brazil. Data collection was carried out in the 1st semester of 2019. When parents receive a diagnosis of a child with special needs, they go through periods of conflict, as caring for their children requires changes in the whole family routine, making parents often feel tired and overwhelmed. Parents of children with special needs need a welcoming and comprehensive nursing, nursing interventions based on Callista Roy's adaptation model allow nurses to fully understand the family's needs, promoting their adaptation within the four adaptive modes, maintaining effective behaviors and intervening on ineffective behaviors. By conducting this study, we were able to understand that the adaptive process of parents of children with special needs happens differently from parents who do not have children with disabilities, because the news of a disability comes with the frustration of a dream and all the planning that one day it was realized, it is interrupted and new plans and roles are adopted for the arrival of the child.