Narrative analysis of parents’ experiences with participating in the intervention of children on the autism spectrum in mainland China

Abstract

Purpose Although the challenges encountered by parents of children on the autism spectrum during the intervention process have garnered scholarly attention, how parents subjectively review those challenges and construct meanings of their experiences remained underexamined. By applying the narrative analysis framework, we investigated the lived experiences of parents of children on the autism spectrum regarding challenges they faced in the intervention process, along with the meanings of those experiences that they constructed in the sociocultural context of mainland China. Methods We purposively sampled 16 parents to narrate their experiences following semistructured interviews. Each participant had one child who had participated in autism intervention for more than two years. Result The narrative analysis revealed that parents experienced a series of challenges imposed by structural barriers in the intervention process, which resulted in psychological distress and negative perceptions of their parental identities. Albeit susceptible to those adversities, the parents actively constructed new meanings of parenthood and their children’s situations through reflexive dialogues. Conclusion Our results indicate the essential role of meaning-oriented coping in helping parents with children on the autism spectrum to mitigate the negative influence of challenges on their parental identity, strengthen their parent–child relationships, and readjust their priorities for intervention. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION The role of encouraging new meanings through reflexive dialogues was found to be particularly important among parents with children on the autism spectrum to cope with the challenges they faced in the intervention process. New meanings assigned can mitigate the negative impact of challenges on parents’ parental identity, strengthening their parent-child relationships, and readjusting their priorities for intervention within the Chinese socio-cultural context. It is crucial for social workers and other practitioners to support parents in mainland China by facilitating them to assign new meanings to the challenging situations. It is important for social workers and other practitioners to encourage parents to cultivate inner strengths and self-value to support their children on the autism spectrum.