Yu-Chien Hsu1,2, Shu-Ling Tsai3, Mei-Hui Hsieh2, Michael S Jenks4, Chang-Hsiung Tsai5, Min-Tao Hsu2. 1. Department of Nursing, Yuanpei University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. 2. College of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. 3. Department of Nursing, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Chiayi Campus, Taiwan. 4. Department of Applied English, Yuanpei University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. 5. Department of Life-and-Death Studies, Nanhua University, Chiayi, Taiwan.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: There has been a dramatic increase in autism around the world. However, little is known about the impact of the Taiwanese primogeniture system on mothers of children with ASD. Greater knowledge is needed to understand the life experiences of Taiwanese mothers with ASD children when a healthy male descendent is expected. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Research follows the hermeneutic phenomenological approach with in-depth interviews and participant observation (Agar, Speaking of Ethnography. Sage, California, 1986). The researchers collected and analysed stories from seven mothers who are the major caregivers of their school-aged autistic children. RESULTS: The data revealed the following themes that represented the mothers' experiences: taking the blame, my world was turned upside down, a child-centred life and two lives as one. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide a deeper understanding of common expectations of, and behaviours directed towards, Taiwanese mothers of children with autism. This offers healthcare professionals ways of reconceptualizing therapeutic practice, thus benefitting these mothers.
BACKGROUND: There has been a dramatic increase in autism around the world. However, little is known about the impact of the Taiwanese primogeniture system on mothers of children with ASD. Greater knowledge is needed to understand the life experiences of Taiwanese mothers with ASDchildren when a healthy male descendent is expected. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Research follows the hermeneutic phenomenological approach with in-depth interviews and participant observation (Agar, Speaking of Ethnography. Sage, California, 1986). The researchers collected and analysed stories from seven mothers who are the major caregivers of their school-aged autisticchildren. RESULTS: The data revealed the following themes that represented the mothers' experiences: taking the blame, my world was turned upside down, a child-centred life and two lives as one. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide a deeper understanding of common expectations of, and behaviours directed towards, Taiwanese mothers of children with autism. This offers healthcare professionals ways of reconceptualizing therapeutic practice, thus benefitting these mothers.