Caregivers of School-aged Children with Autism: Social Media as a Source of Support

Internet use for family carers of people with intellectual disabilities: A literature review and thematic synthesis

“…The main focal points of the eight studies that were included were use of a social media support group (Cole et al, 2017); use of self-published websites (Fleischmann, 2005); exploring reasons for using the Internet (Gundersen, 2011); exploring the functions of an email group (Huws et al, 2001); exploring communications on a discussion group (Jones and Lewis, 2001); determining the value of an email listserv for parents (Leonard et al, 2004); the state and benefits of social support of Facebook support groups (Mohd Roffeei et al, 2015); and examining how mothers make sense of their experiences online emotional and informational support (Reinke and Solheim, 2014). …”

“…Table 1 shows the context in which the research studies took place. In three of the papers, the geographical location was clear; participants were based in South Africa (Cole et al, 2017), Norway (Gundersen, 2011) and the United States (Reinke and Solheim, 2014). However, in the remaining five papers, the geographical location was less clear as the research was either entirely web-based (Fleischmann, 2005; Huws, et al, 2001) or the study location was implied rather than made explicit, for example, Jones and Lewis (2001) was a web-based study but reference was made to participants posting messages outside of working hours implying that they were UK-based (the geographical location of the authors).…”

“…The overall number of participants was not possible to record as some studies used messages posted on chat forums (thousands) while other papers used small numbers of interview participants. Details of participants in the included studies are detailed below (also included in Table 1): mothers of children with ASD (Cole et al, 2017; Reinke and Solheim, 2014); parents of children with autism (Fleischmann, 2005; Huws et al, 2001); parents of children with rare genetic disorders (Gundersen, 2011); parents of people with Down syndrome (Jones and Lewis, 2001); parents and carers of people with Rett syndrome (Leonard et al, 2004); and members of two Facebook groups for parents of people with autism (Mohd Roffeei et al, 2015). …”

“…Research participants liked to use the Internet because it was a positive experience; it was convenient (Cole et al, 2017; Jones and Lewis, 2001; Leonard et al, 2004; Reinke and Solheim, 2014) and has the benefits of instant contact (Cole et al, 2017; Jones and Lewis, 2001; Reinke and Solheim, 2014) and information being available at any time, day or night (Huws et al, 2001). Moreover, Jones and Lewis (2001) found that in a Down syndrome support group, 73% of the 77 messages asking for help were posted outside working hours (i.e.…”

WhatsApp as a Source of Support for Parents of Autistic Children

“…Little research has been done on WhatsApp as a source of social media support group for parents of children with autism with only one such research found done in South Africa (20). Since there has been little research exploring the social support group that parents of autistic children provide to each other over an electronic device as a medium of communication, especially in Penang, Malaysia, this paper explores the support parents of autistic children offered each other through the use of a social media support group on WhatsApp.…”