Examining the associations among knowledge, empowerment, and advocacy among parents of transition-aged youth with autism.
Chak Li, W Catherine Cheung, Meghan M Burke and 2 others
PMID 38270137WHAT IT FOUND
Empowerment, not just knowledge, strongly predicts whether parents advocate for their children.
Parents who feel empowered are more likely to move from individual to peer and systemic advocacy. Interventions should prioritize building confidence and control over simply teaching service rules.
Key findings
01Empowerment had a stronger positive association with all three types of advocacy (individual, peer, systemic) than knowledge did.
02Knowledge was associated with greater individual and peer advocacy indirectly through empowerment, suggesting knowledge must translate into feeling empowered to drive advocacy.
03Peer advocacy acts as a necessary intermediate step between individual advocacy for one's own child and systemic advocacy for broader change.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that increasing empowerment causes increased advocacy; it only shows they are related at one point in time. The sample was predominantly White, female, and highly educated, which may not represent the experiences of diverse families or those facing greater service disparities. Data relied on parent self-report, which may be subject to bias or recall errors. The participants were already interested in advocacy programs, so they may have had higher baseline empowerment than the general population of parents.
Declared interests
The research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant No. R01 MH116058). The authors disclosed no other conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that simply teaching parents about disability services will make them effective advocates. The study shows that knowledge alone has a weak direct link to advocacy; it works primarily by increasing empowerment. If parents do not feel confident or in control, information alone may not lead to action.