Current research

Accessing support for parenting among parents living with disabilities

Parents reported that they would benefit from support in a range of areas including: access to their children; childcare and respite; structure and routine; practical tasks; managing child behaviours; stress management in parenting; parent-child relationships; educating and supporting children around mental health; and developing positive understandings and confidence around parenting. They had received or wanted to receive support via: parenting education programs; family interventions; opportunities to talk to professionals; opportunities for peer support; advocacy; practical help; family-friendly mental health services; and respectful, collaborative and non-judgmental services. However, most parents reported lacking this support.

Rider, J., Honey, A., Pituch, E., O’Mara, V., & McGrath, M. (2025). Accessing support for parenting among parents living with disabilities: A mapping review of qualitative research. Health and Social Care in the Community, 2025, 8821639. https://doi.org/10.1155/hsc/8821639

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    This paper analysed data from 18 original qualitative studies involving the experiences of 267 parents living with chronic conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis and HIV.  Three central themes emerged: (i) Absence of support – parents often described feeling invisible within healthcare systems (ii) What supports are needed – parents wanted practical, education and emotional support and (iii) Designing supports that work – parents called for supports that are flexible, tailored and grounded in need. 

    McGrath, M., Honey, A., O’Mara, V., Pituch, E., & Rider, J. V. (2025). How do parents who live with chronic disease experience accessing formal parenting supports? A systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative research. Disability and Rehabilitation, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2025.2574530

  • This paper synthesized data from 49 studies. Parents reported that they would benefit from support in a range of areas including: access to their children; childcare and respite; structure and routine; practical tasks; managing child behaviours; stress management in parenting; parent-child relationships; educating and supporting children around mental health; and developing positive understandings and confidence around parenting. They had received or wanted to receive support via: parenting education programs; family interventions; opportunities to talk to professionals; opportunities for peer support; advocacy; practical help; family-friendly mental health services; and respectful, collaborative and non-judgmental services. However, most parents reported lacking this support.

    Honey, A., Rider, J., Pituch, E., O’Mara, V., & McGrath, M. (2026). Supporting parents with mental health conditions: A qualitative systematic review of parents’ experiences with professional support. Community Mental Health Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-026-01628-3

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Global survey of occupational therapists

Our international research team conducted a global survey exploring how occupational therapists support adults in their parenting roles. We got 1,357 valid responses from OTs in 42 countries.

This paper highlights that parenting is often under-addressed in OT practice — less than half regularly ask clients about their parenting roles, and only a third frequently intervene around parenting concerns. The research also found that assessment practices tend to rely on informal conversations or general OT measures rather than parenting-specific tools, and that interventions are most often limited to education and training rather than tailored, occupation-centred parenting support.  Those occupational therapists who had prior training in parenting and OT were  more likely to integrate parenting into their regular  assessment and intervention practices. 

McGrath, M., Honey, A.*, Almomani, F., Chen, Y., Codd, Y., Junghun A., Kunishige, M., Morrison, R., O’Mara, V., Peterson, J.,  Pituch, E.,   Romli, M., Rozen, D., Sabbah, R., Sarsak, H., Saunders, E., Sim, S., Tan, H.L., Wong, W.T.,  Wan Yunus, F., & Rider, J. (2025). Parenting and Occupational Therapy: An exploration of global practice. Occupational Therapy Journal of Research 46(3).https://doi.org/10.1177/15394492251382465                    

Parenting occupations and purposes - The POP framework

Parenting is not an instinct that comes naturally—it is a skill that is learnt. To help clients build parenting skills, occupational therapists need a conceptual framework of the ‘doing’ of parenting.

Parenting is an important and complex part of everyday life, yet the role of occupational therapy in supporting parents has received relatively little attention. This study explored how parenting is understood within occupational therapy research and developed the Parenting Occupations and Purposes (POP) Framework to bring these ideas together. The framework takes a parent-centred approach, recognising parenting as an occupation in its own right rather than focusing only on the needs of the child. The findings highlight opportunities for occupational therapists to better support parents in their everyday parenting roles, while recognising that there is no single “right” way to parent.

After preliminary testing in Ireland, planning is underway for a global study that will use Experience Sampling Method to explore the range tasks and activities that parents do as part of parenting. We will use this information to assess the validity of the POP framework, identify any additional parenting occupations, and explore the impact of culture on parenting practices.

Lim, Y. Z. G., Honey, A., & McGrath, M. (2022). The parenting occupations and purposes conceptual framework: A scoping review of ‘doing’ parenting. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 69(1), 98–111. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12778