The resilience of parents who have children with autism spectrum disorder in China: a social culture perspective

Abstract

Background Parenting children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continues to be challenging worldwide, especially in the Chinese context where there lacks support for parents. Method Five parents of children with ASD of high level of resilience in China were interviewed about their experiences of raising children with ASD and influencing factors of developing resilience. Results Findings highlighted the process of developing resilience shaping from the interaction between different social system, including introspect and self-cultivation in micro system, acceptance of ASD, playing various roles for their children, and expanded social network in the interactions between micro and mezzo systems and accept the worst results in the interactions between micro and macro systems. The characteristics of resilience for Chinese parents of children with ASD were that parents built positive relationships with themselves and outsides though active interaction and changed their social environment as an outcome. Conclusion The results of this study may reveal the process and characteristics of resilience for Chinese parents having children with ASD, which can be a starting point for other parents to understand and learn from them. Besides, it provides insight for service providers into paying attention to the whole experience of parents and help them to expand the relative network to support them.