Creating a caregiver education program with chinese caregivers of autistic children: A community engaged process

Despite a growing body of research highlighting the advantages of caregiver education for both autistic individuals and their caregivers, little is known about what Chinese caregivers of autistic children may want and need within caregiver education. In this qualitative study, we invited 14 Chinese caregivers of autistic children to share their needs and perspectives on the content and delivery of a caregiver education program. Specifically, we conducted two focus groups. The first focus group asked caregivers about the desired content of caregiver education. The second focus group asked for feedback on two prototype videos created based on the first focus group. We used reflexive thematic analysis, revealing three emergent themes regarding content and two themes regarding the delivery method. The study results show that the content and modality of online caregiver education programs should be created by solicitating intended user input throughout the development process.