Couples' experiences of raising a child on the autism spectrum: A narrative study

Autism is a developmental disorder that causes severe impairment in social interaction and communication. When a child is diagnosed with autism, parents go through a wide range of emotions ranging from a sense of relief to, sadness, fear and guilt. As the reality of a diagnosis sets in, parents may need to adjust their expectations for their child's life and their own and learn ways to cope with the challenges they and their child will face. This dissertation aimed to fill a gap in the literature by interviewing parents together. Previous research focused mainly on the experiences of the mother, with few studies including the father. Five couples were interviewed using a narrative analysis method of inquiry, aiming to identify themes relating to how couples perceive having a child with autism impacts their marriage. The findings support previous research that has show high levels of stress among couples with a child on the autism spectrum Couples' increased stress was connected to feelings of uncertainty and isolation. The couples highlighted the use of humor, gratitude that they are not raising their child alone and continuing to participate in "normal" family activities as ways to cope with their stress. The narratives of these five, intact couples shared how their struggles have brought them closer together despite facing high levels of stress. This study found that fathers had strong emotional reactions to their child's diagnosis and experience high levels of stress, highlighting the need to include fathers' experiences in future research.