Evangelos Kavakis
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Title: Parental interpretations of autism: A Greek Perspective
Biography
Biography: Evangelos Kavakis
Abstract
Parental Interpretations of Autism: A Greek Perspective: The aim of this research project was to have a better understanding of the perception and life experiences of rural Greek parents raising children on the spectrum of autism. For this reason, a qualitative research has been adopted through qualitative semi-structured individual interviews. Parents from 7 families of children with autism, aged between ten and fifteen years old residing in a northern Greek province shared their personal story. The data were analyzed using qualitative software (NVivo) and themes began to emerge. Four themes representing the essential challenging elements of the parents' experiences included: Parents’ understanding, impact of autism, sources of information and the support and its role in the life of parents. This qualitative exploration of parental experiences has yielded several key findings. Knowledge was added to the current literature on autism in specific areas through first-hand accounts as data and can be used in the future in a plethora of educational and not only ways.