‘My heart is always where he is’. Perspectives of mothers of young people with severe intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviour living at home

摘要

? The researcher visited twenty families over 2?years. In all of the families, there was a son or daughter (from 15 to 22?years old) who had severe or profound intellectual disabilities. This meant that the mothers had to do most things for them. They bathed and dressed them and helped them to eat. Many spent time in the night with them as well. Most of the young people could not speak at all. Many of them had epilepsy. They were very difficult to look after because they tried to hurt themselves or other people, or break up the furniture.