| Daily emotional experiences |
“I consider myself guilty. So, I must do my best for my son’s future till he grows up perfect and healthy.” [Participant 10] |
| “Sometimes I say to myself, I wish I didn’t give birth to such a person who has to endure these challenges because of my wrong decision, however abortion was like killing my own child.” [Participant 1] |
| “I agree that I get angry fast especially when he is nervous. I try to be relaxed and negotiate with him in these situations, but after five minutes when I see him not calming down I shout eventually.” [Participant 14] |
| Challenge of acceptance |
“In the first two years after diagnosis, I had no normal life, especially in my relationship with my husband, but I noticed it cannot continue like this and I asked myself if there is a problem, what else do you want to do? So, I faced with difficulties and started again, then I coped with these problems gradually.” [Participant 12] |
| Defence mechanisms |
“I always try not to think about the annoying situation and distract my thoughts with something else.” [Participant 3] |
| Coping strategies |
Emotion-focused strategies |
“I like to watch movies or read books and sometimes I do so during the physiotherapy sessions.” [Participant 12] |
| “We used to live in Arak and because of my son’s illness, we moved to Tehran.” [Participant 14] |
| Problem-focused strategies |
“We came to this centre and the head nurse explained all I needed to know and answered my questions to take care of my son.” [Participant 11] |
| “I realised something is not right so I preferred to visit a psychologist and he/she gave some practical recommendations.” [Participant 15] |
| Positive expectations for the future |
“My only dream is about my children’s education. I wish to see them in the best scientific positions, which I couldn’t achieve it myself because of imposed restrictions by culture on women in my town. I specially encourage my affected son to study hard. Because of haemophilia, all physical job is prohibited for him.” [Participant 7] |
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