Parenting experiences of fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder with or without intellectual disability.
Fathers of children with autism follow a shared five-part post-diagnosis story that you can turn into targeted support lessons.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers talked with fathers of children with autism. Some kids also had intellectual disability. The team asked open questions about daily life, feelings, and coping.
They looked for shared story lines across interviews. No tests or training were given. The goal was to map the father journey after diagnosis.
What they found
Five themes popped up in every father's story. The themes show how dads see themselves, manage stress, and find hope.
The same five themes appeared whether or not the child had intellectual disability. Fathers spoke of shock, advocacy, identity change, partner teamwork, and future worry.
How this fits with other research
Fahmie et al. (2013) used numbers to prove parents of kids with autism feel more stress than other parents. Lotfizadeh et al. (2020) now gives the father voice behind those numbers.
Chao et al. (2018) traced five steps Taiwanese parents take during diagnosis. The new study mirrors that method but keeps the lens on fathers after the label is given.
Shorey et al. (2020) blended studies on Asian caregivers and found six need areas. The five father themes line up with four of those areas, showing some needs are universal while others are shaped by culture and gender.
Gray (2006) followed parents for ten years and saw them shift from asking for services to using emotion and faith coping. Fathers in the 2020 study mention the same shift, giving a snapshot that supports the older timeline.
Why it matters
You can use the five themes to build father-only support groups or add a father module to parent training. Start sessions by letting dads share their shock story, then move to advocacy skills and partner teamwork. End with a future-planning activity to ease worry. The themes work for fathers of kids with or without intellectual disability, so one curriculum fits both.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Open your next parent group with the prompt, 'Tell us the moment you first heard the word autism,' and list the five father themes on a handout.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) report more challenges than fathers of typically developing children, which also negatively impacts their psychological well-being. Although not studied to the same extent in fathers of children with ASD, the challenges experienced by fathers of typically developing children have been shown to impact parenting behaviours. Many children with ASD also have intellectual disability (ID), which adds additional parenting stress. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine perceptions of parenting roles and father-child relationship quality in fathers of children with ASD and ASD/ID. METHODS: Twenty-eight fathers of children with ASD (n = 12) and ASD/ID (n = 16) completed a telephone interview. A phenomenological approach was used by two investigators to analyse the interviews. Both investigators coded the interviews and then discussed the final themes. RESULTS: Five major themes emerged. One theme that emerged was pre-birth expectations, and the remaining themes related to the post-diagnosis period: adjustments, experiences, co-parenting and quality of father-child relationship. Both fathers of a child with ASD and ASD/ID reported on all themes. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, fathers of children with ASD and ASD/ID reported similarly on the themes that emerged. Future research with more diverse samples is needed to continue to understand the fatherhood experience. The findings of this study have implications for the development of parent-focused programmes that are tailored to fathers' unique experiences.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2020 · doi:10.1111/jir.12728