Holding Space for Struggle and Strength: Challenges and Self-Compassion among Parents of Children with Autism

Abstract

This study was conducted to explore the challenges and how self-compassion is experienced among parents of children with autism. Using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), the study focused on six (6) parents of children with autism enrolled at a public Special Needs Education (SNED) program in Valencia City, Bukidnon. Participants were recruited through snowball sampling, and data were gathered using an open-ended interview guide. Following IPA principles, three superordinate themes for challenges were identified: daily caregiving as relentless work, marginalization, and confronting the child’s challenging behaviours; and one overarching theme for self-compassion: reconstructing suffering into strength.
Parents described chronic emotional and psychological strain, difficulties with toilet training and basic self‑care, limited access to medical and support services, stigma in public spaces, and distress associated with self‑injury, aggression, and communication barriers. Despite this, parents’ experience of self-compassion demonstrates remarkable resilience by drawing on self-kindness, recognizing shared struggles, reframing adversity into purpose and family resilience, and holding on through faith.
These findings add depth to earlier quantitative studies on self-compassion by exploring the lived experiences of Filipino parents, underscoring the importance of integrating self-compassion and spirituality into support programs. This study also recommends expanding accessible autism and related services, embedding self-compassion parent intervention, such as mindfulness, and conducting further quantitative studies to see how self-compassion relates to other Filipino values among parents of children with developmental needs.