Seeking participants (mothers and fathers) for a study!

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Hi everyone,

We would like to introduce ourselves as Andrew Steer, Chooi Leng Chan and Rebecca Ferrarotto, Master of Psychology Students from Australian Catholic University.

Under the supervision of Dr David Hamilton and Associate Professor Cecelia Winkelman, we are conducting a research project looking at different aspects of parenting a school-aged child (aged 6-15 years) with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (inc. Aspergers Syndrome and PDD NOS). In particular, we are interested in looking at parental well-being, social support, parent coping and child behaviour.

We are looking for mothers and fathers of children with an ASD to complete a 35-40 minute survey.

Participants in this research will be eligible to enter a draw to win one of three Amazon vouchers (1st prize, $200, 2nd Prize, $50 and 3rd prize, $20).

If you would like to participate, please copy and paste the following link into your browser.

https://acu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5o6J62CnlWO6Jgx

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to reply to this post or contact supervisor, Dr David Hamilton on: Phone +61 (03) 9953 3118 or via E-mail: [email protected]

The project has been approved by the Australian Catholic University Human Research Ethics Committee (Registration Approval Number 2013 05V).

Thank you in anticipation of your support.

I started but couldn't proceed because form wouldn't accept 6 or six as a valid number. This in relation to age of diagnosis and any interventions.

Hi Marcia,

Thanks for letting me know. I'll see what I can do to make sure it works!

Andrew

Error fixed! All good to go ahead for those interested in participating.

Andrew

Hi Andrew, Chooi, and Rebecca,

Your research study sounds very interesting for your Master's thesis. I am actually researching similar constructs for my PhD. I am in the process of recruiting participants right now. I wish I could help you with your study, but my son with AS is 22 now, so I don't meet your eligibility criteria. I am investigating parent's attachment relationship and its effect on caregiver stress and health related quality of life in parents of adolescents with ASD.

I wish you the best in your recruitment efforts and would love to read your thesis when it is completed.

Hi Andrew,
It will not accept a number for age at first intervention. I am trying to put age 2, and it would not accept 2 or 24 months.

Need to have a "not applicable" option for the religious/pritual questions. Some of us are atheists and putting an answer there might be misleading in some way.

The questions in relation to your child "controlling" your life are ambiguous, and difficult to answer. They are worded in such a way that they seem to imply a deliberate attempt, on the part of the child, to exert control. But then, you could also be trying to determine to what extent, if any, the parent(s) have had to make changes to accommodate the focus child.

For example, there have been times when I have had to arrange my life around my son's various appointments with professionals, go for hospital appointments etc. To that extent my life has been "controlled" by him, but I wouldn't express it like that. His having AS has meant that he has been more involved with different health professionals than the average child, but that's just life really.

Still going through it, but have to say I am struggling a bit with the way the questions are worded.

More comments.

I'm now on the page with the statements, "my child _________ is:"

There are three sections and in the first section the responses range from strongly disagree on the left to strongly agree on the right. In the other two sections these response options are reversed! I had already answered a few before I noticed this, and find it is very likely to result in responses being recorded as the opposite as intended.