'I Don’t Do Much Without Researching Things Myself': A Mixed Methods Study Exploring the Role of Parent Health Literacy in Autism Services Use for Young Children
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Olivia J. Lindly; Kamila B. Mistry; Ivonne Garber; Karen Kuhlthau; Ruqayah Mohammed; Jacqueline Cabral
- Source
- J Autism Dev Disord
- Subject
- Parents
medicine.medical_specialty
Medication use
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Public health
Health literacy
medicine.disease
Article
Health Literacy
Developmental psychology
System characteristics
Child, Preschool
mental disorders
Information accessibility
Developmental and Educational Psychology
medicine
Educational Status
Humans
Autism
Autistic Disorder
Child
Psychology
- Language
- ISSN
- 1573-3432
0162-3257
Little is known about how parent health literacy contributes to health-related outcomes for children with autism. This mixed-methods study included 82 U.S. parents of a child with autism 2-5 years-old and sought to describe (1) health literacy dimensions, (2) how health literacy influences services use, and (3) health literacy improvement strategies. Results showed: autism information was accessed from multiple sources; understanding autism information involved "doing your own research"; autism information empowered decision-making; health literacy facilitated behavioral services use; health literacy influenced medication use; family and system characteristics also affected services use; autism education remains needed; services information is needed across the diagnostic odyssey; and greater scientific information accessibility would increase uptake. Findings demonstrate how parent health literacy affects services use.