{"title":"The Experience of Parents When they Find Out that their Child\nhas Autism: A Phenomenological Study","authors":"Shirdel Zandi, E. Jenabi, Saeed Bashirian, Reza Mohammadi, Fatemeh Karbin, Salman Khazaei","doi":"10.2174/0126660822301547240415060803","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n\nMothers, as vital and important individuals in their children's\nlives, experience various struggles, emotions, and experiences in relation to their child's\nautism diagnosis. This study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of mothers'\nexperiences in dealing with the diagnosis of autism in their child using a\nphenomenological approach.\n\n\n\nIn this study, a qualitative phenomenological approach was used, and purposeful\nsampling was employed until data saturation was achieved. The participants were selected\nfrom mothers who sought their children's participation in rehabilitation classes at the\nAutism Spectrum Disorder Research Center in Hamedan, Iran. Unstructured interviews\nwere conducted as the method of data collection. The descriptive method of Colaizzi was\nutilized for analyzing the obtained data.\n\n\n\nTwelve participants took part in this study. The average age of the participants\nwas 35.16 years. The analysis of mothers' lived experiences in dealing with their child's\nautism diagnosis using a descriptive phenomenological approach revealed four main\nthemes: fear of the child's future, worry about social harassment, emergence of emotional\nshock, and fear of trouble.\n\n\n\nThe results of this study demonstrated that concern for the child's future,\nworry about social harm, experiencing emotional shock, and fear of being trapped were the\nmajor challenges faced by mothers upon learning about their child's positive autism\ndiagnosis. Therefore, professionals, policymakers, and regulatory organizations should pay\nattention to the issues raised in parents' experiences in order to provide appropriate\nhealthcare services for children with autism and their families.\n","PeriodicalId":36711,"journal":{"name":"Current Psychiatry Research and Reviews","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Current Psychiatry Research and Reviews","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2174/0126660822301547240415060803","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Mothers, as vital and important individuals in their children's
lives, experience various struggles, emotions, and experiences in relation to their child's
autism diagnosis. This study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of mothers'
experiences in dealing with the diagnosis of autism in their child using a
phenomenological approach.
In this study, a qualitative phenomenological approach was used, and purposeful
sampling was employed until data saturation was achieved. The participants were selected
from mothers who sought their children's participation in rehabilitation classes at the
Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Center in Hamedan, Iran. Unstructured interviews
were conducted as the method of data collection. The descriptive method of Colaizzi was
utilized for analyzing the obtained data.
Twelve participants took part in this study. The average age of the participants
was 35.16 years. The analysis of mothers' lived experiences in dealing with their child's
autism diagnosis using a descriptive phenomenological approach revealed four main
themes: fear of the child's future, worry about social harassment, emergence of emotional
shock, and fear of trouble.
The results of this study demonstrated that concern for the child's future,
worry about social harm, experiencing emotional shock, and fear of being trapped were the
major challenges faced by mothers upon learning about their child's positive autism
diagnosis. Therefore, professionals, policymakers, and regulatory organizations should pay
attention to the issues raised in parents' experiences in order to provide appropriate
healthcare services for children with autism and their families.