Personal Growth Experience among Parents of Children with Autism Participating in Intervention
- PDF / 585,588 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 37 Downloads / 182 Views
ORIGINAL PAPER
Personal Growth Experience among Parents of Children with Autism Participating in Intervention Xiao‑yu Liu1,2 · Siu‑ming To1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Guided by Pals’ (in: McStay (ed) Identity and story: Creating self in narrative, American Psychological Association, Washington DC, 2006) model of self-making through a narrative lens in the context of adversity, this study investigated not only the difficulties but also the personal growth that parents have experienced while participating in the interventions with their children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mainland China. Based on interviews with 16 purposively sampled parents, thematic analysis revealed themes concerning the parents’ acknowledgment of stressful events and their emotional reactions, meanings of their experiences constructed through causal connections, and outcomes of their perceived improvement in self-understanding, parent–child relationships, and philosophies on life. Largely consistent with this theoretical model, such findings highlight the uniqueness of the personal growth process of parents of children with ASD in China’s sociocultural context. Keywords Parenting · Autism spectrum disorder · Personal growth · Chinese culture
Introduction Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represents a range of chronic, complex conditions characterized by deficits in communication and reciprocal social interaction, along with repetitive behavior and stereotyped patterns of interest. In mainland China, however, official figures about ASD in the population remain limited, for no nationwide epidemiological study of its prevalence has been conducted. Nevertheless, according to a few sample surveys conducted in two provincial cities (Huang et al. 2014; Wang et al. 2011), ASD’s average rate of prevalence is 16 per 10,000, meaning that Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04681-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Xiao‑yu Liu [email protected] Siu‑ming To [email protected] 1
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territory, Hong Kong
Chung Chi College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Rm. 613, Sino Building, Sha Tin, New Territory, Hong Kong
2
approximately 1.3 million individuals in mainland China are affected by the disorder. Although autism was initially identified in the Western world more than 70 years ago, the first case of autism in China was not reported until 1982, namely by Dr. Tao Kuo-tai at the Nanjing Child Mental Health Research Center (Tao 1987). In the last three decades, tireless efforts have been made by doctors, parents, and teachers at various institutions in China to provide education for children with ASD (McCabe 2008). Nevertheless, due to constraints in public services, most educational interventions have been provided by grassroots organizations funded by parents of children with ASD or by individuals with insufficient professiona
Data Loading...
