The study aims to understand the sociocultural implications and perceptions of ASD by immigrant Vietnamese families. The study hopes to note the ways immigrant Vietnamese parents and caretakers perceive childhood development and ASD symptoms. Past studies on families of color, ranging from Black to Korean families in America, has shown the influence of sociocultural beliefs on the diagnoses process. When we look at American diagnosis prevalence, Black and Hispanic families tend to have lower prevalence than White Americans. The prevalence has been slowly increasing throughout the years. Studies show that a major contributor is closing the knowledge gap about ASD. With resources being highlighted as a major part of the diagnosis process, it is important to truly understand any and every community, especially minority immigrant ones.
Immigrant Vietnamese parents and caretakers will be interviewed once through a semi-structured interview. The interview is meant to understand their holistic experience and perception of ASD alongside the cultural structures that may have lent to these perceptions. After the study, we hope to analyze the families’ potential frameworks and understand the ways immigrant Vietnamese families perceive ASD and how families could better be educated on ASD in the future. Through the interviews and study, I hope to establish narratives and the cultural ideas that led to the experiences of immigrant Vietnamese parents raising a child with ASD. I will analyze verbal responses and non-verbally expressed attitudes to establish the perceptions of these immigrant Vietnamese caretakers. In particular, I will note ideas recurring throughout each interview to establish a potential overarching perception that could allow for future improvements in resources.
What are the goals of the study?
The research aims to understand the potential sociocultural implications that may impact how immigrant Vietnamese families perceive child development and ASD symptoms. Studies have shown that the diagnosis rates of other races are slowly increasing, being attributed to greater resources and education for parents. Understanding the sociocultural implications and the perceptions of immigrant Vietnamese families would allow an understanding of how different ethnic groups and families could be better supported and educated in the future.
What will happen during the visit or online?
The participants will be a part of a single online semi-structured interview that would last one to two hours. It will be conducted over Zoom. Questions will revolve around their child’s perceptions and development, including what they noticed about their child, when they decided to take their child to get checked up, and how they view their child now. The interview will be audio-recorded and transcribed. Each participant’s personal information and identifiers will be coded so no one but the PI will know who the interviews belong to.
How will this help families?
Many minority families are often left out of data and research studies. When they are included in data or studies, there are many holes as to why certain parts of the narrative is left out, whether that be low diagnoses prevalence in families of color or how varying culture impacts understanding. Children are often diagnosed at a lower prevalence in minority families, such as Vietnamese families, as their caretakers may lack knowledge of conditions and the meaning of diagnosis. ASD is a condition that has many interventions that often support children best when children receive the interventions earlier in life rather than later. Through establishing and amplifying the voices of a minority community such as the American Vietnamese immigrant community, future families could better be supported and understood. As of current, studies that aim to understand the influences of sociocultural aspects of life in Asian communities have only focused on either East or South Asian families. Vietnamese families have been left out of the narrative. Re-establishing their voices could provide communities with better and more ways to truly support families wholeheartedly.