Exploring how parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in China use social media to obtain online social support, and how social workers can use social media to provide online social support to these parents
Caring for a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a challenge for many parents all across the world. However, in China, parents of autistic children experience considerably greater challenges, aggravated by factors such as stigma and inadequate support.
Consequently, Chinese parents of children with autism tend to experience relatively greater levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, which negatively affect their health (both mental and physical) and general wellbeing. Therefore, social workers and other health professionals in the country should put in more effort to provide the necessary help and support to parents of autistic children.
Amidst the growing need to address the challenges faced by Chinese parents of autistic children, one of the potential solutions involves providing parents with more social support, which refers to the support or help that one gets from their social networks, mostly their family, friends, and peers. According to social support theory, there are three major dimensions of social support:
Emotional support, such as expressions of caring, concern, and sympathy
Informational support, such as advice, feedback, and factual input
Instrumental support, such as financial aid, job referrals, and helping with a task.
These forms of social support have the potential to reduce stress and improve the quality of life and wellbeing of parents of autistic children. Additionally, social support can help in lowering internalized or self-stigma, which often happens when parents of autistic children accept negative stereotypes about themselves and allow these stereotypes to affect their sense of self, shame, and personal values.
Correspondingly, from the perspective of social workers, there are different forms of social support that can be provided to parents of autistic children; for example, social workers can provide useful advice and suggestions (informational support), while also showing expressions of care, concern, and empathy (emotional support) to parents of autistic children. However, social workers in previous decades have faced several challenges that have hindered service delivery to certain parents of autistic children in China, especially those in rural areas. For example, parents of autistic children in rural China often find it more difficult to obtain social support from community-based support groups as compared to parents in urban areas. Consistently, previous research has revealed that there are regional disparities in the availability and accessibility of social support services in China, with parents in rural areas generally finding it more challenging to access social support services than parents in urban areas.
Fortunately, the growth and development of social media has provided new opportunities for social workers to reach many underserved individuals and populations, such as parents of autistic children in rural China (Nordesjö et al., 2022). For example, social media can enable social workers to provide useful information, advice, and suggestions to parents of autistic children in remote areas, where the traditional form of social support services may be unavailable (Nordesjö et al., 2022). Correspondingly, the development of social media has also presented opportunities to parents of autistic children in China to obtain social support, for example, from peer support groups and online communities on social media.
However, much of the scholarly work in this regard has been on the “traditional” or conventional form of social support, with relatively less focus directed to the “newer” form of social support obtained from social media. Hence, this research specifically focuses on online social support obtained from social media. Considering the rising number of social media users in China (slightly above 1 billion as of 2024), this research proposes that parents of autistic children in the country can use social media to obtain online social support, such as informational, emotional, and instrumental support. For example, through peer support groups or mutual aid groups on social media, parents of children with autism can obtain useful emotional and informational support that can help in enhancing their health and wellbeing. Additionally, considering that the rate of social media penetration in rural China is expected to increase in the next few years, it is important to explore how social media is creating new opportunities for social workers to provide social support to parents of autistic children in rural areas.
Thus, on that account, the aim of this research is to explore how parents of children with ASD in China are using social media to gain online social support. Based on theories such as social support theory and new materialism, this research explores how parents of children with ASD in China are obtaining different kinds of social support, such as emotional and informational support, from Chinese social media. Subsequently, this research seeks to explore the strengths and limitations of online social support obtained from social media. Additionally, this research seeks to explore how social workers in China perceive online social support and how they can use social media to provide online social support to parents of children with ASD.
Correspondingly, the research seeks to answer the following questions:
How do parents of children with ASD in China view and use social media in relation to obtaining online social support?
What are the strengths and limitations of online social support obtained from social media in relation to helping parents of children with ASD in China?
How do social workers in China perceive online social support and how can they help parents of children with ASD to obtain online social support from social media?
I am a Chinese social work enthusiast who is interested in improving the lives of families of persons with mental health conditions and developmental disabilities in China. Since my undergraduate education in Beijing Normal University – Hong Kong Baptist University (2018-2022), where I graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration degree, I have accumulated strong interest in undertaking social work research that can contribute towards improving the lives of vulnerable populations. My strong interest in social research led me to pursue and attain a Master of Science in Social Policy and Social Research from University College London (2022-2023). Through my Master’s dissertation, I gained some useful insights into the unique challenges experienced by families of autistic children in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China.
Additionally, through different internship programs in several health centers and organizations based in China, I have realized that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to effectively address the needs of vulnerable individuals and groups across the country. Having worked closely with parents of children with autism, schizophrenia, and other developmental disorders, I can personally confirm that there are indeed many challenges that these parents are still facing in their daily lives. This means that social workers like myself need to strengthen our efforts in order to provide more help to these parents, and I believe that conducting further research is vital for enhancing social work practice and producing more positive outcomes.