The Situation And Outlet Of The Family Of Teenagers With Autism:A Narrative Study Of Two Families

The social and communication disorders and behavioral characteristics of individuals with autism posed great challenges to their families,and the families faced more complex situations when individuals with autism enterd adolescence.However,there were few studies on families of teenagers with autism in China,and the research on life experience of families of teenagers with autism was very limited.The research tried to understand the history and experience of families of teenagers with autism.The research method was narrative study.Narrative study attached importance to the subjective perception of the participants and the understanding of empathy from the context,which not only presented the whole picture of the life course,but also reflected the meaning behind it,so it was very suitable to explore the family life experience.Two families of teenagers with autism participated in the study,including two teenagers with autism,two mothers and one younger sister.Researcher collected data through participative observation and in-depth interviews.Sources of the data included interview records,observation records and reflective notes.Then,researcher took the way of open coding for data analysis.This study used the first person narration to describe the life experience and adopted the “holistic-form” narrative analysis to explore the collected data.With the purpose of the study,the results of this study could be temporarily applied as follows:From the child was diagnosed with autism,early intervention,compulsory education,to the present stage and the outlook for the future,this vertical development process was accompanied by the continuous change of the life story of the main family members of the teenagers with autism.This process was also a process of progress under the struggle of various challenges and adjustments.The disorder and special needs of teenagers with autism had long-term impacts on families.This study sumarized the impact of the teenagers with autism on their family systems,including the burden on family members' physical and mental health,the growing demand for the domestic economy,the changes of family roles relationship,the restrictions on family leisure activities,the changes in home social areas and the changes in sibling interaction.The stress and challenges caused by the teenagers with autism in the family system could be different from the situation at any time.And there were different adjustment processes.The families of the teenagers with autism in this study also had different ways to adjust to the stress,and actively responded to the challenges of the development of the individuals with autism.The related factors of the adjustment and coping process of families of teenagers with autism were sumarized as: personal factors,family factors and social support.Finally,researcher tried to propose some directions for improvement from the three aspects of positive adjustments within the family,active involvement of professionals,system support from the government departments and support from living environment.Through the life stories of these two families of teenagers with autism,the research could give support and inspiration to other families of teenagers with autism.It could help related professionals to think the needs of families of teenagers with autism in the same perspective when working with them.In addition,researcher expected society could pay more attention to the families of teenagers with autism and strived to build a complete and effective support system for them.