The Challenge Coping Process of Families of Adults With ASD in a Chinese Context: A Qualitative Study Based on the Family Resilience Perspective
Xin Gao, Syazwani DraniPurpose
This study aimed to explore how a sample of families of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in China construct and experience family resilience in the face of enduring adversity.
Design
Guided by an interpretive qualitative design, this study conducted semi-structured interviews with eight primary caregivers of adults with ASD from China. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, informed by Walsh’s family resilience framework.
Findings
The findings revealed two main themes. First, families faced severe systemic challenges, including barriers to employment, insufficient community support, and a lack of long-term residential care. Second, from the participant’s perspectives, resilience was actively constructed through three key processes: (1) profound philosophical endurance within their belief systems, specifically cultivating a “usual mind”; (2) collective institutional entrepreneurship, demonstrated by proactive grassroots self-organization to create support systems; and (3) strategic cultural defense mechanisms through internal communication patterns of gratitude and contentment.
Originality
This study reframes these marginalized families not as passive victims of institutional deficits, but as resilient, pragmatic innovators. While context-bound, the findings highlight crucial implications warranting further assessment: a potential transition from deficit-based care models toward culturally responsive, strengths-based approaches that explore avenues to recognize, legitimize, and facilitate grassroots family self-organization.