Parent and Provider Perspectives on the Diagnosis and Management of Autism in a Chinese Immigrant Population.
Christina Sakai, Christina Mulé, Amy LeClair and 4 others
PMID 30908425WHAT IT FOUND
Chinese immigrant parents and providers described autism diagnosis and service use as shaped by culture, stigma, family authority, and language barriers.
Parents often saw a lively or calm child as not autistic, and trusted professionals enough to accept recommendations.
Key findings
01Parents described autism as incompatible with a child being lively, calm, or gentle, and this belief could delay acceptance of the diagnosis.
02Providers identified denial (63%) as a barrier to quality care and stigma (81%) as a barrier to diagnosis and concern, alongside waitlists, language barriers, and limited Chinese language resources.
03Most parents reported trusting professionals (75%), and children frequently used speech therapy (94%) and ABA (81%), while fewer used occupational therapy (44%) and physical therapy (19%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only 16 parents and 16 providers were interviewed, and providers were recruited by snowball sampling, so themes may reflect a specific professional network. Parents were mostly mothers, had been in the United States for an average of 13.9 years, and were generally well educated, so views may not represent less-educated, less-acculturated, or single-parent families. The sample came from a clinic and a Chinatown community organization, and families were already receiving diagnosis and services, so barriers for less engaged families may be missed. The paper reports perspectives and service use, not child outcomes or treatment effects.
Declared interests
Research support is listed as NIH extramural and non-U.S. government; no author conflict-of-interest statement is included.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as proof that any autism treatment works or that all Chinese immigrant families share them. The study interviewed 16 parents and 16 providers, mostly already engaged with services, and reports perspectives rather than outcomes.