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Mothers' appreciation of chromosomal microarray analysis for autism spectrum disorder
Author(s) -
Giarelli Ellen,
Reiff Marian
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal for specialists in pediatric nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1744-6155
pISSN - 1539-0136
DOI - 10.1111/jspn.12121
Subject(s) - helpfulness , autism spectrum disorder , thematic analysis , relevance (law) , psychology , autism , content analysis , qualitative research , developmental psychology , theme (computing) , descriptive statistics , clinical psychology , social psychology , sociology , computer science , social science , statistics , mathematics , political science , law , operating system
Purpose The aim of this study was to examine mothers' experiences with chromosomal microarray analysis ( CMA ) for a child with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ). Design and Methods This is a descriptive qualitative study using thematic content analysis of in‐depth interview with 48 mothers of children who had genetic testing for ASD . Results The principal theme, “something is missing,” included missing knowledge about genetics, information on use of the results, explanations of the relevance to the diagnosis, and relevance to life‐long care. Two subordinate themes were (a) disappreciation of the helpfulness of scientific information to explain the diagnosis, and (b) returning to personal experience for interpretation. Practice Implications The test “appreciated” in value when results could be linked to the phenotype.