“…what I’m really concerned about also, is whether he’ll
be able to have children one day. Because, I know the kind of science is
moving in the right direction and there might be some further
development, but from what I understand for males with PCD to actually
conceive the child naturally it can be difficult. So he might need some
extra help and I know that for some males that might be an issue, they
won’t be an alpha male. Being able to fully, not just perform, but what
I’m saying is being able to do all those things that they are kind of
natural to male, and it might affect his confidence and self-esteem and
mental health in the future.” (mother 15)
COVID-19 pandemic and caring for a young child with PCD
Three months into this project the COVID-19 pandemic started. As we
wanted to focus on everyday experiences of parents caring for a young
child with PCD, our data collection stopped from March to July 2020, the
first wave in the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. COVID-19 was rarely
reported among children diagnosed with PCD (Pederson et al., submitted)
and as the world tried to return to some form of normality, the data
collection for this study resumed from August to December 2020. The
interviews did not focus on the effect of COVID-19 on caring for a child
with PCD, but parents spontaneously brought up the impact COVID-19.
Parents discussed how anxiety-inducing it is caring for a young child
with PCD due to COVID-19. One mother described how she worried about her
child going to school and that he wasn’t shielded anymore: