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Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Etiology among Parents of Children with ASD

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits and restricted or repetitive behaviors. Parental perceptions of the etiology of their child’s ASD can affect provider–client relationships, bonding between parents and their chi...

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Autores principales: Chen, Wei-Ju, Zhang, Zihan, Wang, Haocen, Tseng, Tung-Sung, Ma, Ping, Chen, Lei-Shih
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8297016/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34202481
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136774
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author Chen, Wei-Ju
Zhang, Zihan
Wang, Haocen
Tseng, Tung-Sung
Ma, Ping
Chen, Lei-Shih
author_facet Chen, Wei-Ju
Zhang, Zihan
Wang, Haocen
Tseng, Tung-Sung
Ma, Ping
Chen, Lei-Shih
author_sort Chen, Wei-Ju
collection PubMed
description Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits and restricted or repetitive behaviors. Parental perceptions of the etiology of their child’s ASD can affect provider–client relationships, bonding between parents and their children, and the prognosis, treatment, and management of children with ASD. Thus, this study sought to examine the perceptions of ASD etiology of parents of children with ASD. Methods: Forty-two parents of children diagnosed with ASD were recruited across Texas. Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually. All interviews were recorded and later transcribed verbatim for content analysis utilizing NVivo 12.0 (QSR International, Doncaster, Australia). Results: The content analysis identified the following themes regarding parental perceptions of ASD etiology: Genetic factors (40.5%), environmental factors (31.0%), problems that occurred during pregnancy or delivery (23.8%), vaccinations (16.7%), other health problems (7.1%), parental age at the time of pregnancy (4.8%), and spiritual or religious factors (2.4%). Conclusions: The parental perceptions of ASD etiology were diverse, but several views, such as vaccinations and spiritual or religious factors, were not based on scientific evidence. Health professionals and researchers can use these findings to develop and provide targeted education to parents who have children with ASD. Our findings also support policymakers in developing campaigns designed to increase parental ASD awareness and knowledge.
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spelling pubmed-82970162021-07-23 Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Etiology among Parents of Children with ASD Chen, Wei-Ju Zhang, Zihan Wang, Haocen Tseng, Tung-Sung Ma, Ping Chen, Lei-Shih Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits and restricted or repetitive behaviors. Parental perceptions of the etiology of their child’s ASD can affect provider–client relationships, bonding between parents and their children, and the prognosis, treatment, and management of children with ASD. Thus, this study sought to examine the perceptions of ASD etiology of parents of children with ASD. Methods: Forty-two parents of children diagnosed with ASD were recruited across Texas. Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually. All interviews were recorded and later transcribed verbatim for content analysis utilizing NVivo 12.0 (QSR International, Doncaster, Australia). Results: The content analysis identified the following themes regarding parental perceptions of ASD etiology: Genetic factors (40.5%), environmental factors (31.0%), problems that occurred during pregnancy or delivery (23.8%), vaccinations (16.7%), other health problems (7.1%), parental age at the time of pregnancy (4.8%), and spiritual or religious factors (2.4%). Conclusions: The parental perceptions of ASD etiology were diverse, but several views, such as vaccinations and spiritual or religious factors, were not based on scientific evidence. Health professionals and researchers can use these findings to develop and provide targeted education to parents who have children with ASD. Our findings also support policymakers in developing campaigns designed to increase parental ASD awareness and knowledge. MDPI 2021-06-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8297016/ /pubmed/34202481 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136774 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Chen, Wei-Ju
Zhang, Zihan
Wang, Haocen
Tseng, Tung-Sung
Ma, Ping
Chen, Lei-Shih
Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Etiology among Parents of Children with ASD
title Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Etiology among Parents of Children with ASD
title_full Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Etiology among Parents of Children with ASD
title_fullStr Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Etiology among Parents of Children with ASD
title_full_unstemmed Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Etiology among Parents of Children with ASD
title_short Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Etiology among Parents of Children with ASD
title_sort perceptions of autism spectrum disorder (asd) etiology among parents of children with asd
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8297016/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34202481
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136774
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