Mothering young children with disabilities in a challenging urban environment.

OBJECTIVE This study examined the occupations of mothering very young children with physical disabilities. METHOD Two single, urban, Black mothers in their mid-20s were interviewed with a semistructured protocol. The audiotaped, transcribed data were analyzed with a phenomenological method. RESULTS The context of the challenging urban environment was a constant influence that shaped the participants' occupations of mothering. The major over-arching theme derived from the data was that mothering was "what I got to do" in relation to their particular child. Two sub-themes were identified: (a) mothering as caring and (b) the impact of social supports on the occupations of mothering. CONCLUSION To plan meaningful, effective interventions, occupational therapy practitioners need to understand the context in which mothering occupations occur and to ensure that mothers' caring occupations and social support needs are addressed in the therapeutic partnership.