Cultural Influences on Diagnostic, Treatment, and Research Perceptions of Parents Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Three-Article Dissertation
type: CreativeWork
description: Background: Parents raising children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have many responsibilities, including advocating for their children’s needs, organizing their systems of care, and making decisions that best support their children’s development and the well-being of their family system. While researchers and practitioners have worked in tandem over decades to provide evidence-based services, there exists a longstanding gap in the access to and even quality of care delivered to families from marginalized backgrounds. Reducing disparities in ASD care requires concurrent attention to both research and practice approaches, yet much work is needed to realize this goal. Only by helping researchers and practitioners better understand socioeconomically, culturally, and linguistically diverse (SCLD) parents’ distinct experiences can disparities in ASD be addressed, and this was the overarching aim of the three-article dissertation. Purpose: The three studies examined how parents perceive (1) their children’s diagnosis and their ability to cope with raising children with complex needs; (2) recommended testing that may benefit their children’s treatment; and (3) research procedures that may encourage better representation of SCLD families in ASD research. Methods and Results: Article 1 used hierarchical linear regression analyses to explore whether parents’ sociodemographic variables predicted different perceptions of their children’s ASD diagnosis and family adjustment. Archival data from parents in North America raising children with ASD (N = 363) indicated that parents’ race and ethnicity, education level, and annual household income predicted their beliefs that they or treatment could be helpful in controlling their children’s ASD symptoms; their understanding of ASD; their experiences of emotional distress; their involvement in resources of support; and their families’ ability to manage stress. Article 2 used a separate archival dataset gathered from parents raisin…
abstract: Background: Parents raising children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have many responsibilities, including advocating for their children’s needs, organizing their systems of care, and making decisions that best support their children’s development and the well-being of their family system. While researchers and practitioners have worked in tandem over decades to provide evidence-based services, there exists a longstanding gap in the access to and even quality of care delivered to families from marginalized backgrounds. Reducing disparities in ASD care requires concurrent attention to both research and practice approaches, yet much work is needed to realize this goal. Only by helping researchers and practitioners better understand socioeconomically, culturally, and linguistically diverse (SCLD) parents’ distinct experiences can disparities in ASD be addressed, and this was the overarching aim of the three-article dissertation. Purpose: The three studies examined how parents perceive (1) their children’s diagnosis and their ability to cope with raising children with complex needs; (2) recommended testing that may benefit their children’s treatment; and (3) research procedures that may encourage better representation of SCLD families in ASD research. Methods and Results: Article 1 used hierarchical linear regression analyses to explore whether parents’ sociodemographic variables predicted different perceptions of their children’s ASD diagnosis and family adjustment. Archival data from parents in North America raising children with ASD (N = 363) indicated that parents’ race and ethnicity, education level, and annual household income predicted their beliefs that they or treatment could be helpful in controlling their children’s ASD symptoms; their understanding of ASD; their experiences of emotional distress; their involvement in resources of support; and their families’ ability to manage stress. Article 2 used a separate archival dataset gathered from parents raisin…
author: Sakyi, Georgina Jonelle Danette
language: en
keywords: Psychology
date published: 2024-08
date modified: 2026-07-27T21:19:35Z
provider: Texas Digital Library
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Texas Digital Library

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10657/19861

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103811.