Familiarity of evidence based practices in Chinese caregivers of autistic children

Abstract

Although researchers have investigated special educators’ and clinicians’ knowledge and use of evidence-based practices (EBPs), there is very little research on caregivers’ perception of the importance of EBPs for their autistic children. Moreover, there is even less research on how EBPs have been translated or disseminated in international communities not within the English-speaking, Western population. In order to provide appropriate support for caregivers of autistic children in all communities, we need more information to identify possible barriers that may affect caregiver involvement. We used a survey to ask 81 Chinese caregivers of autistic children in Guangzhou, China to investigate their familiarity with EBPs for autistic individuals and any external sources used inform their decision about treatment options for their autistic child. Results showed that 58.6% of the participants had no knowledge of what an EBP was and an additional 29.7% of the participants had heard of EBPs but not sure what they were. These results amplify the need for increased dispersion of ASD intervention knowledge to global communities and how to increase caregiver knowledge on treatment options for their autistic child.

Keywords:

• caregiver advocacy
• caregiver knowledge
• autism
• evidence-based practice

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the caregivers of autistic children who participated in this study. We would also like to thank Shulin Wang and Sunny Li Xin for their research assistance. The authors use identity-first language following recommendations from the autistic communities and the American Psychological Association.

Disclosure statement

The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose.