A Qualitative Study of Effectiveness of Hospital Based Parental Support Group in Managing Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Management of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) involves long term intensive behavioural and educational therapies. Facilities for management of ASD are very meagre in India. Children with ASD pose tremendous burden and challenges for parents. Parents require support and guidance for managing their children’s problems. Thus, parent training in ASD can be an effective strategy for management of this enduring condition and is hereby described in this paper. Parent training in group setting was delivered once a month in department of Psychiatry of a tertiary care centre of North India. It was conducted by a trained psychiatrist, psychologist and social worker. In depth interviews were conducted for N = 12 parents who attended the sessions regularly for more than 6 months. Their narratives were noted down and qualitative analysis was done. Analysis revealed that the group parent training was helpful in multiple areas. The sessions gave support to parents in several ways such as increase in their knowledge, decrease in stigma and stress. With the help of professionals and other parents, they became more skilled in handling behaviour problems and learned techniques for enhancing their children’s communication and social interaction. Group parent intervention delivered at a frequency of once per month was highly beneficial for parents and their children with ASD. Group parent training can be an effective model for management of ASD in low resource settings.