Date of Award
2012
Publication Type
Master Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Psychology
Keywords
Psychology, Education, Acceptance, Autism, Cognitive representations, Self-regulation model of illness behavior, Treatment selection
Supervisor
Marcia N. Gragg
Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to identify the relations between nine dimensions of parents' cognitive representations of ASD, their acceptance of their children's ASD, and their treatment selection for their children with ASD. Parents of children with ASD aged 21 years and younger ( N = 124) completed an online survey, with 10 of those parents completing telephone follow-up interviews. Logistic regression analyses revealed that stronger beliefs in personal control over one's child's ASD were associated with selection of medication-based treatments, while stronger beliefs in external causes of ASD were associated with selection of metabolic treatments. Correlation analyses also revealed that lower levels of acceptance were associated with selecting greater numbers of treatments, regardless of empirical support. Results suggest that programs aiming to increase parents' acceptance and teach parents to be more "research savvy" may help promote selection of evidence-based treatments for children with ASD.
Recommended Citation
Drouillard, Brianne, "It's all in how you see it: Predicting parents' treatment selection for their children with Autism Spectrum Disorders" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4801.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/4801