Research Question: How might the early parenting experience of autistic mothers be understood through the perspective of Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy?
Aims:
a. To understand and articulate a deeper perspective of the lived experiences, challenges and strengths of autistic mothers via the perspective of Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy, and
b. to build an understanding, of what women have found helpful in navigating this experience; be that coping strategies, support mechanisms or therapeutic approaches.
Please see flyer here for further information. To get in touch: h.bolton2@unimail.derby.ac.uk
The small body of research and various blogs and online sources from within the autistic community highlights that autistic mothers do not feel they are understood by services and wider community and that autism brings challenges to parents not experienced by neuro-typical parents.
The researcher is currently studying for a Masters in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy for which is this is the dissertation project. She is also a registered mental health nurse and health visitor and in over 20 years of working with families in various NHS settings experienced firsthand the challenges faced by autistic mothers in engaging with services and the impact on mental health. This has made her passionate about raising the profile of autistic mothers and building understanding in professionals working within family orientated services. As an integrative therapist she is interested in looking at this from person-centred, attachment focused and cognitive-behavioural perspectives.
The research will be completed over the academic year 2024-25.
A single semi-structured interview will be conducted via Teams with a small number of participants with approximately 6/7 questions, plus some clarifications, taking approx 60-90mins, followed by a debrief.
Participants will be self-selecting and recruited via one or more established autism charities, local services or via the BACP research noticeboard. Inclusion criteria will be women with a diagnosis of autism (or who self-identify as autistic and score at a clinically significant level on an established tool such as the AQ50 (Baron-Cohen et al, 2001)) AND who are mothers of at least one child whom they have care of (or have had care of for at least 6 months). The study focuses on mothers rather than all parents so that physical aspects of mothering such as breastfeeding can be explored, in light of the sensory aspects common in autistic presentations (Samuel et al, 2022).
Interviews will be audio recorded, transcribed and anonymised, then analysed using the IPA approach (Smith, Flowers, Larkin 2022), drawing personal experiential themes which will be brought together to draw group experiential themes. This methodology has been chosen as the methodology best suited for understanding the lived experience of the participants.
Research design and questions have been shared with autistic friends/colleagues and course mates and a small sample of the analysis of anonymised material with by checked by an autistic colleague to support fidelity to the interpretation of the material. An Ethics review has been completed on behalf of the College of Health, Psychology and Social Care Research Ethics Committee by the supervisor and an independent reviewer (ETH2324-1979: Helen Bolton)