Life experiences of adolescents who have siblings with developmental disabilities

The purpose of this study is to obtain the views of typically developing (TD) adolescent siblings between the ages of 14-19, who have a sibling with developmental disability (DD), and to reveal their perspectives on their life experiences. The data was analyzed using the phenomenology design, which is one of the descriptive research types. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview form. The participants of this study were 18 TD high school students, aged between 14-19, whose siblings were diagnosed with mental retardation (MD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), living in different cities. The data were analyzed with the descriptive analysis technique, and 8 main themes, 21 subthemes and 60 codes were created. The findings obtained in the light of the themes were given in detail and the findings were discussed by comparing them with the literature. Various suggestions were made for future studies and practices based on this study.