Date of Award
5-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College/School
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department/Program
Psychology
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Erin Kang
Committee Member
Michael Bixter
Committee Member
Amy Esler
Committee Member
Jazmin Reyes-Portillo
Abstract
Caregivers with autistic children, particularly from minoritized populations, experience significant barriers while navigating the complex healthcare system, including acquiring services. Therefore, it is crucial to understand what these barriers are in order to inform policymaking initiatives to support families. Notably, there is a significant gap in extant literature to explore trends in service use and unique experiences of caregivers of autistic youth from three historically underrepresented groups in research (and currently not in the parameters of the United States census): 1) South Asian, 2) Middle Eastern and North African (MENA), and 3) East African. This study employed a mixed-method design to assess met and unmet needs, trends in service utilization, barriers to diagnosis and treatment access, influence of culture/religion, and coping skills of caregivers from these groups. Results indicated that families experience structural, familial, and cultural barriers that impact service use and have several unmet needs. These findings offer critical insights for providers to adopt a culturally sensitive approach to care as the unique experiences of caregivers need to be understood from a sociocultural lens. Further, strategies are outlined for successful recruitment from underrepresented groups in order to increase representation in research.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Khawar, Sadaf, "Trends and Barriers in Service Utilization in Underrepresented Ethnoracial Groupswith Autism Spectrum Disorder in the United States: A Mixed-Method Analysis" (2024). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1471.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1471
