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African American Families on Autism Diagnosis and Treatment: The Influence of Culture

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Abstract

Cultural factors such as health care access and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptom interpretations have been proposed as impacting delayed diagnosis and treatment for African American children with ASD. A qualitative study of urban African American families caring for their child with autism was conducted with 24 family members and 28 ASD professionals. Cultural caring meant families protected their child from harm including potential or actual distrustful encounters, and took action for their child and community to optimize their child’s health and address the knowledge deficits of ASD within their community. Families and professionals believed cultural influences delayed families’ receiving and seeking appropriate health care for the African American child with ASD affecting timely autism diagnosis and treatment.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of the families who participated in this study for their meaningful contributions and unwavering support of this research. This study was supported by the Carolyn Stoll Research Fund, Center for Professional Excellence, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; the University of Cincinnati Research Council Summer Graduate Fellowship; and the Transcultural Nursing Society Research Award.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Standards

This study was approved by the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Institutional Review Board and has been performed in accordance with ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Avenue, ML4002, Cincinnati, OH, 45229, USA

    Karen Burkett & Patricia Manning-Courtney

  2. College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Edith Morris, Jean Anthony & Donna Shambley-Ebron

  3. Nursing Research in Patient Services, Center for Professional Excellence, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Edith Morris

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  1. Karen Burkett
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  2. Edith Morris
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  3. Patricia Manning-Courtney
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  4. Jean Anthony
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  5. Donna Shambley-Ebron
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karen Burkett.

Additional information

The manuscript was prepared from the principal investigator’s doctoral dissertation and a version of this paper was presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) and the Society of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics annual meetings.

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Burkett, K., Morris, E., Manning-Courtney, P. et al. African American Families on Autism Diagnosis and Treatment: The Influence of Culture. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 3244–3254 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2482-x

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