Understanding Hong Kong Chinese Families' Experiences of an Autism/ASD Diagnosis.
Hong Kong families wait months for an autism diagnosis and feel the hurt early—give support while they wait.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Tait et al. (2016) asked Hong Kong Chinese parents how it felt to get an autism diagnosis for their child.
They used a survey and interviews. Families told stories about long waits and few services.
What they found
Parents said the wait hurt family life. They felt alone and stressed.
Cultural ideas about disability made the pain stronger.
How this fits with other research
Koegel et al. (2014) studied the same Hong Kong moms two years earlier. They showed stigma already strained marriages. The new study shows the strain starts during the long wait for diagnosis.
Chan et al. (2021) later counted 382 Hong Kong parents. Child autism signs raised parenting stress and coparent fights. The 2016 stories now have numbers behind them.
Leng et al. (2024) looked across all of China. Migrant kids get diagnosed even later than Hong Kong kids. The Hong Kong wait is bad; the mainland wait can be worse.
Wang et al. (2020) studied mainland moms and dads. When fathers stress, mothers’ quality of life drops too. The Hong Kong paper mostly heard moms; the mainland data remind us to invite dads.
Why it matters
Your families may sit on wait-lists for months. Offer parent handouts, WeChat groups, or quick check-in calls while they wait. One small support move can lower stress before therapy even starts.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Little is known about the experience of Chinese parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) living in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Seventy-five parents of children (aged 6 months-18 years) with ASD diagnoses completed the Family Quality of Life Scale. Forty-five parents from the original surveyed cohort, also participated in semi-structured interviews. Parents' perceptions of their child's disability were influenced both by their cultural background and by the limited and expensive, pre- and post-diagnostic services available. Longer waiting times to diagnosis were associated with lower emotional well-being and perceived disability-related support. Clinicians are encouraged to become part of the support network for parents of children with ASD, to help parents to adjust to caring for their child.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2016 · doi:10.1007/s10803-015-2650-z