Laurenia Mangum, Valire Carr Copeland, Ifeoluwa Orebiyi, Shataya Taylor, Taja Jones, Janice Nathan, Barry R Nathan, Shaun M Eack
{"title":"Parental Perceptions of Access to and Utilization of Services for Autistic Children in African American Families: An Exploratory Study.","authors":"Laurenia Mangum, Valire Carr Copeland, Ifeoluwa Orebiyi, Shataya Taylor, Taja Jones, Janice Nathan, Barry R Nathan, Shaun M Eack","doi":"10.1007/s40615-025-02283-2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) occurs within all racial, ethnic, and demographic pediatric groups. However, Black children with ASD are diagnosed at later stages of their development, and as a result may not receive or may age out of early intervention services, and demonstrate poorer long-term outcomes, across a range of factors. African American parent's perceptions regarding access to and utilization of healthcare services for their autistic children vary. Research examining autism spectrum disorder and parental perceptions of service utilization among African American (AA) families is limited. This qualitative study aimed to understand the challenges African American parents face when initiating healthcare services for their autistic children. Eleven AA mothers of autistic children participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Six themes related to pediatric treatment needs, interactions with providers, and parents' roles as experts and advocates were generated. Implications for pediatric treatment needs of autistic children and areas of opportunity for providers working with AA autistic children are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":16921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-025-02283-2","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) occurs within all racial, ethnic, and demographic pediatric groups. However, Black children with ASD are diagnosed at later stages of their development, and as a result may not receive or may age out of early intervention services, and demonstrate poorer long-term outcomes, across a range of factors. African American parent's perceptions regarding access to and utilization of healthcare services for their autistic children vary. Research examining autism spectrum disorder and parental perceptions of service utilization among African American (AA) families is limited. This qualitative study aimed to understand the challenges African American parents face when initiating healthcare services for their autistic children. Eleven AA mothers of autistic children participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Six themes related to pediatric treatment needs, interactions with providers, and parents' roles as experts and advocates were generated. Implications for pediatric treatment needs of autistic children and areas of opportunity for providers working with AA autistic children are discussed.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities reports on the scholarly progress of work to understand, address, and ultimately eliminate health disparities based on race and ethnicity. Efforts to explore underlying causes of health disparities and to describe interventions that have been undertaken to address racial and ethnic health disparities are featured. Promising studies that are ongoing or studies that have longer term data are welcome, as are studies that serve as lessons for best practices in eliminating health disparities. Original research, systematic reviews, and commentaries presenting the state-of-the-art thinking on problems centered on health disparities will be considered for publication. We particularly encourage review articles that generate innovative and testable ideas, and constructive discussions and/or critiques of health disparities.Because the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities receives a large number of submissions, about 30% of submissions to the Journal are sent out for full peer review.