Purpose: All children have the right to play. Children with disabilities are often excluded from play activities. We aimed to explore caregivers', older community members', and key stakeholders' perceptions and experiences of play as influenced by socio-cultural, institutional, and public policy factors. These insights informed the early stages of intervention development.
Materials and methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews (n = 23) were conducted with caregivers of children with disabilities aged 2-5 years, older community members, and key stakeholders who had experience working with children with disabilities. Data were thematically analysed, following a socio-ecological approach.
Results: Four themes emerged: (i) making play doable and affordable, (ii) play away the challenges, (iii) playing together or not, and (iv) play opportunities. The results highlighted how intrapersonal and interpersonal factors and experiences shaped perspectives of play and play-based interventions for children with disabilities.
Conclusions: Our findings emphasise the importance of a community-informed approach in grounding the early stages of intervention development, which may help to ensure that a future play-based intervention is contextually appropriate.
Keywords: Play; caregivers; children with disabilities; disability; inclusion; mental health; well-being.
Children with disabilities are often excluded from play activities, resulting in social isolation and omission from the developmental benefits of play.Play-based interventions often do not consider the socio-cultural contexts of low- and middle-income countries.A community-based approach to intervention development is important to ensure its contextual and cultural appropriateness and acceptability.Intra- and interpersonal experiences, as impacted by institutional and sociocultural factors and situated within the broader public policy context, influence perceptions of play for and with children with disabilities.