Quality of life experiences of parents of children with autism in Scotland
dc.contributor.advisor
Gulland, Jackie
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dc.contributor.advisor
McGhee, Janice
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dc.contributor.advisor
Hunter, Susan
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dc.contributor.author
Kuriachan, Deepa
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dc.date.accessioned
2018-06-26T11:53:19Z
dc.date.available
2018-06-26T11:53:19Z
dc.date.issued
2018-07-09
dc.description.abstract
The purpose of this study was to enter the world of the parents living with a
child with autism, wondering what quality of life means for them and whether
their engagement with social work services makes any difference to their
quality of lives. Understanding the quality of life experiences of the parents of
children with autism is relevant for policy making and social work practice.
Based in a Scottish context, the objectives for this research were as follows:
To explore the parent carers‘ description of the term quality of life
To describe the parent carers‘ views on their quality of life in the context of
the services provided by social services within (departments of) local
authorities.
To understand the systems, processes and procedures put in place by the
local authorities to support parent carers
To explore the scope for changes, if any, in the present social work approach
in order to enhance the quality of life of parent carers.
The study adopted a grounded theory methodology informed by a symbolic
interactionist theoretical framework. Data were gathered from three study
local authorities in Scotland. The participants include an almost equal
number of male and female parents (total parent participants = 23); and
social workers and operational managers from three study local authorities
(total number of social workers =12, total number of operational managers
=3). This study utilised focus groups and semi structured interviews to
gather data. Using the constant comparison method, three main categories
emerged; namely 'new normal', 'on-going burden' and 'limited help' which
contextualised the quality of life experiences of parent participants in the
study. Oppression emerged as the overarching theory. Drawing on the
parental perspectives on quality of life distilled in this study, the implications
for further research, professional practice and education are explored.
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dc.identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31260
dc.language.iso
en
dc.publisher
The University of Edinburgh
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dc.subject
autism
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dc.subject
quality of life
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dc.subject
social work practice
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dc.subject
policy
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dc.subject
parent carers
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dc.subject
grounded theory
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dc.title
Quality of life experiences of parents of children with autism in Scotland
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dc.type
Thesis or Dissertation
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dc.type.qualificationlevel
Doctoral
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dc.type.qualificationname
PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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