Abstract
Parental explanatory models about autism influence the type of therapy a child receives, the child’s well-being, and the parents’ own psychological adaptation. This qualitative study explored explanatory models used by parents of children with autism. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 parents of children with autism from a medical center in Taiwan. Despite high educational background, most of these parents attributed their child’s autism to both biomedical and supernatural etiologies without apparent conflicts. These parents chose a wide variety of treatment strategies, including biomedical and alternative treatments, which often created time/energy pressures and financial burden, and were influenced by parents’ cause attribution. Parents’ illness explanations influence their treatment selections and need to be understood and accepted by health care providers.
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This research was supported by grant from the National Science Council (NSC) of the Executive Yuan (executive branch of the Republic of China).
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Shyu, YI.L., Tsai, JL. & Tsai, WC. Explaining and Selecting Treatments for Autism: Parental Explanatory Models in Taiwan. J Autism Dev Disord 40, 1323–1331 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-0991-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-0991-1