Developing and understanding of the experiences of parents whose child has come out as homosexual

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a better understanding of the experiences of parents whose child has come out as homosexual. The data was collected through qualitative focus groups. Five focus groups included parents, with a total of nineteen participants and three focus groups included homosexual individuals, with a total of seventeen participants. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The main themes that emerged from the findings included emotional, cognitive and behavioral parental reactions, dealing with coming out, implications of coming out on the child-parent relationship and the parents’ lives, factors influencing parental adjustment and reaching parental acceptance. The emergent proposals of this study are: to initiate programmes of education for the community about the truth behind homosexuality and dealing with being homosexual, to introduce programmes of education about the possibility of having a child who is homosexual and dealing with a child’s coming out as part of the state parental education courses, the development of a social services structure which aims to help parents adjust to finding out about their child’s homosexuality.