Working and Caring For a Child with Chronic Illness Disconnected and Doing it All

Using an innovative, action research approach, Margaret Vickers explores the lives of women who work full time while caring for a child with significant chronic illness or disability. She demonstrates that such women can be disconnected from those around them, overwhelmed with responsibility at home and work, and dealing with ongoing grief and anxieties while largely unsupported. On the other hand, there are narratives of survival, kindness and resilience. This qualitative study makes use of data poems, fictional diary entries, firsthand interviews, research reflections and constructed vignettes in conveying the life experiences of this group of women.

MARGARET H. VICKERS is an Associate Professor with the School of Management, University of Western Sydney, Australia.