Barnen som inte fanns : En kvalitativ studie baserad på självbiografier med fokus på individers upplevelse av omsorgssvikt

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to describe and understand how individuals in adulthood experienced a childhood with neglect, and how they handled neglect. In order to reach the perspective of the individuals who grew up with neglect, we chose to use autobiographical books as our empirical material. The criteria the autobiographies had to meet in order to fall within the scope of this study was that the biographies had to display the experience of neglect during childhood, and thereto the books had to be written by individuals who themselves experienced neglect. Based on the aim of this study we sought answers to three questions: How do the individuals describe their upbringing with a mentally or socially disabled parent? How have the individuals coped with the neglect they’ve been exposed to? What consequences have the neglect supposedly led to? The findings of this study show that the extent to which the individuals experienced neglect were profound and comprising. Most prominent in the material was physical and mental abuse. For survival the individuals used different strategies to master the different situations they were subjected to. The strategies the individuals described were most often used to provide food, confirmation and to keep emotions in check. Furthermore the individuals described that the neglect and abuse led to various consequences, some that were prominent during childhood others not until the individuals reached adulthood.