Explaining and Selecting Treatments for Autism: Parental Explanatory Models in Taiwan

Parental explanatory models about autism influence the type of therapy a child receives, the child's well-being, and the parents' own psychological adaptation. This qualitative study explored explanatory models used by parents of children with autism. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 parents of children with autism from a medical center in Taiwan. Despite high educational background, most of these parents attributed their child's autism to both biomedical and supernatural etiologies without apparent conflicts. These parents chose a wide variety of treatment strategies, including biomedical and alternative treatments, which often created time/energy pressures and financial burden, and were influenced by parents' cause attribution. Parents' illness explanations influence their treatment selections and need to be understood and accepted by health care providers. (Contains 1 table.)