Parents of children with autism's views of child psychotherapy #1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How do parents of children with autism who have received intensive child psychotherapy view the treatment now?
IRAS ID
205186
Contact name
Rachel Bull
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of East London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
How do parents of children with autism who have received intensive child psychotherapy view the treatment now?
This retrospective study aims to find out what a sample of parents feel their children with autism gained, if anything, from intensive child psychotherapy; whether they consider themselves to have benefited from the intervention; and whether they felt any improvement to have lasted. I shall consider whether the parents’ views about their child’s therapy differs from the therapists’ and parent workers’ opinions in each case and what might be understood from this.
There is a need for more research into the effectiveness of child psychotherapy with children with autism. I want to understand more about what this intervention is aiming to achieve with this population. This study will sit within a larger question of whether and when child psychotherapy is indicated for this client group.
The study will be be conducted at a specialist child and adolescent mental health service. I hope to recruit five single parents/parental couples whose children have received intensive child psychotherapy for at least a year, aiming to find parents with a range of views about their child’s therapy. I shall carry out one (or a maximum of two) interviews with each parent or parents in a semi-structured, open-ended, flexible way. The interviews will be audio recorded and analysed with themes coded. I shall gather the views of the clinicians by analysing their letters, termly summaries and through a single brief interview. I will also analyse the clinic’s routine outcome measures, where available, for each case.
This research project aims to give voices to parents whilst not being critical. The project also hopes to add to practice-based evidence, address services needs, and act as a consultative piece of work for the clinic where the research is based by exploring whether parents were satisfied with the work they received.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EM/0052
Date of REC Opinion
7 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion