Background: Parents with intellectual disability are vulnerable to parenting stress and overwhelming life events. The Covid-19 pandemic constitutes a potentially overwhelming event, but there is little knowledge concerning the effects on parents’ caregiving. The present study aimed to fill this gap.
Method: Semi-structured interviews with ten Swedish parents with intellectual disability were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results: One broad caregiving-related theme: Increased caregiving demands and reduced resources for coping resulting in strained parent-child interactions and relationships. Four subthemes highlighted influential factors: Pandemic information; professional support; social relationships and informal support; and children’s school activities. Strained parent-child interactions were particularly common in the absence of adapted pandemic information, if professional and informal support were compromised, and if the parents had dealt with school-related changes.
Conclusions: Findings support contextual models of caregiving and a stress-resources perspective, and emphasize the importance of adapted information and support to parents with intellectual disability during crises.