Table 6 Participants’ recommendations to overcome the challenges
Main Theme | Sub-Theme | Quotes |
|---|---|---|
7. Development of supportive Programs | • Raising community awareness • Empowering the parents of children with ASD • Development of support groups | • “Television interview with parents of children with ASD could be an effective way to increase the awareness of people.” (Parent 8) • “Parents of children with ASD are the most important part of the care. They should be completely aware about their child’s condition, treatment process, and consequences of the interventions. The parents would have active roles in their child’s treatment process; therefore, a great amount of attention needs to be paid to parent empowerment programs.” (Therapist) • “We have a critical role in implementation of the universal screening. We can share our own experience with parents of children who have newly been diagnosed with ASD.” (Parent 1) |
8. Improvement of ASD services | • To develop setting/culture-based educational package • To provide special training for professionals in the field of ASD | • “To progress in the screening, we should indicate which child needs which treatment package.” (Psychiatrist) • “Before implementation of the screening program, primary educations must be provided to screeners both theoretically and practically about the process of the screening, screening tools, and the content of screening questions.” (Psychiatrist) |
9. To provide better coordination between policy making, resource allocation, and service provision. | • Making a close collaboration of stakeholders • To implement applied researches | • “If donors provide funds for vital needs, resource allocation problem could be solved. Therefore, donors, managers, and therapists should work closely with each other.” (Administrator) • “One of our most important challenges in implementation of ASD screening program is the lack of knowledge about population’s attitudes and ideas regarding to autism. Therefore, we need to conduct more qualitative studies to understand their knowledge and attitudes about autism.” (Pediatrist) |