The Care-Giving Experience of The Family of Mainland Spouses with Autistic Children
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Lan, Tan, Bee
Abstract
Recently, the number of foreign spouses and “the new Taiwanese children” has gradually increased in Taiwan. Apparently, in contrast to the Southeast Asian foreign spouses, the Mainland spouses who have similar cultural background to Taiwanese still face adjustment problems. In these ethnics groups, the life of Mainland spouses who take care of their autistic children, is full of challenges.
The objective of this research is to better understand the experience of the Mainland spouses’ family who take care of their autistic children. To understand the care-giving burden and the social support of the Mainland spouses’ family, this research adopted the qualitative research method by semi-structured interview with three pairs of the Mainland spouses and her Taiwanese husbands.
The results showed that the Taiwanese father in the Mainland spouses’ family who had an autistic child is responsible for the family income. Therefore, the husbands are unable to devote themselves in the caring responsibility, and the Mainland spouses become the main caregivers of the autistic children. The Mainland spouses suffered from psychological burden, physiological burden, and social stress because of long-term caring. The sources of social support acquired by the Mainland spouses in formal supportive system include medical personnel, the teacher of the autistic children, and the government; and the informal supportive system include personal resources, husband, friends and family in Taiwan. In the formal support system, three parents who participate in this research believe that the government grants had contributed in reducing the economic burden. On the other hand, spouses’ support plays critical roles in the informal support system. Besides, this research found that, although the resources of the Mainland spouses are less than the Taiwanese father, they established support network of themselves while taking care of their autistic children. The strength of the Mainland spouses can be observed in this research.
Based on the results and discussion of this research, the author provided suggestions to improve current situations, include (1) integrating the relating resources, (2) providing respite services regularly, (3) establishing self-help association for the Mainland spouses’ family with autistic children, (4) promoting the related knowledge of autism, in order to assist the Mainland spouses’ family with autistic children.
Subjects
mainland spouses
new immigrant family
autism
care-giving experience
burden
social support
Type
thesis
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