Available online 14 April 2025

The aim of this thematic analysis is to formalize the parental trajectories of therapeutic wandering, from first symptoms to the diagnosis until disease management.

An inductive and deductive thematic analysis was carried out based on 25 interviews with parents of children with TS. Statistical and association tests were also conducted.

From the interviews with parents, 284 codes were categorized into 19 inductive subthemes, which were then grouped into 5 deductive themes. Some of the subthemes were relevant to all interviewees, and ranged from the description of the disease characteristics, parental distress, the impact of the TS diagnosis, and the evaluation of the diagnostic journey.

Our study sheds light on how the parents of children with TS experience the diagnostic and therapeutic journey. By highlighting recurrent themes experienced by families, we hope that the results will be beneficial to both parents and children with TS in avoiding future diagnostic and therapeutic delay.

Thematic analysis

Diagnosis

Journey

Parents

Tourette syndrome

Association Française du Syndrome de Gilles de la Tourette (French Patient Association for Tourette Syndrome)

Maison Départementale des Personnes Handicapées (French Departmental House for the Disabled)

obsessive-compulsive disorder

© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.