Twin parenting experience – reshaping the family web

• Autor(a) principal: Andrade, Luísa
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Martins, MM, Ângelo, Margateth, Pinto, Cândida, Gomes, Bárbara
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/30529
• topic: Family; Parents; Twins

Being a parent of twin siblings is a major challenge for parents and requires a family restructuring to adapt to a new family environment. OBJECTIVE. To understand the experiences of parents of twins and meanings attributed to them. METHODS: a qualitative study was conducted, having the symbolic interactionism as a theoretical referential and the interpretative interactionism as the methodological referential. Twenty-nine parents with children under 4 years participated in this study. A semi-structured interview was conducted for data collection. RESULTS. The twins family responses to parenting challenges are conditioned by the management and articulation of their di*culties, their strengths and personal resources. There is a clear choice in being a family with children that privileges negotiation and involvement of the couple in caring for the family, or, at least, part of the family, meaning the children and playing the parenting role. CONCLUSIONS. The family grows as a complex web, including its elements and interactions. The symbolic construction evidences the way the family adjusts to this environment of twin parenting. The health professionals should be able to anticipate the needs of families going through this process.