Parents Information Use Questionnaire

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Hello!

I am a student at the University of Maryland iSchool, and I am working on a project to study the information use of parents of children with Autism spectrum disorders. We have designed a questionnaire to gather data for the report that we are writing. It would be a great help to our study if parents on the forum could take a few minutes to answer the questions (included below).

You can send the responses to the emails indicated below, or to seweissman [at] gmail [dot] com. If you would prefer to post responses in reply to this thread or to PM me on the forum with responses, that is also okay. If you have any questions or would like a Word doc version of the questionnaire, just let me know and I can email one to you.

Feel free to distribute the questionnaire to anyone you know who might be interested in participating!

Thanks,
Sarah Weissman

Information use of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Parent Questionnaire

This questionnaire is intended to measure how parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) seek and use information. It contains four sections. Please answer questions to the best of your ability.


Completed questionnaires can be emailed to:
Sarah Weissman, sew [at] umd [dot] edu
Erin Urinoski, urinoea [at] umd [dot] edu
For questions, comments or concerns, please contact the survey authors at the above email addresses.

Section I. Background Information

I a. Parent background information:
1. Race/ethnicity (pick one)
____ American Indian or Alaska Native
____ Asian
____ Black or African American
____ Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
____ White
____ Two or more races
____ Other -- please indicate:
2. Age
3. Gender
____ Male
____ Female
4. Education level
____ High School
____ Some College
____ Undergraduate Degree
____ Graduate School

I b. Child information
(if multiple children with ASD, please duplicate this section for each child)
1. Gender
____ Male
____ Female
2. Age
3. Diagnosis (e.g. Autism, Aspergers, Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, or not diagnosed)
4. Age at diagnosis
Section II. Information sources

Part II a.
Please indicate (by marking with an X) which information sources, if any, you use to find information about ASD.

Books and other media
__ books
__ newsletters
__ magazines
__ newspapers
__ internet (websites, forums, blogs)
__ television
__ journal articles or other scientific publications

Personal relationships
__ other parents
__ family
__ colleagues
__ other (please specify)

Professionals
__ medical doctors
__ therapists
__ educators
__ other professionals (please specify)

Gatherings
__ conferences
__ workshops
__ parent groups
__ other gatherings (please specify)

Other? Please indicate below.

Part II b.

For each type of information below (medical, educational, social/behavioral, legal, nutrition/exercise) please provide the requested information. For information types that you do not research or use please indicate 0 for time spent and leave the rest of the questions in that section blank.

A. Medical

Medical information may include information about doctors, medicines, alternative treatments, prognosis, causes, diagnosis, etc.

1. How many hours have you spent researching medical information in the past …

... week ____?

... month ____?

... year ____?

2. In the past have you spent more time or less time researching medical information? If so, briefly describe the circumstance.

2. Which sources in the list above (or other) do you consult for medical information? Please list.

3. Which sources in the list above (or other) do you NOT consult for medical information? Please list.

4. On a scale of 1-5, 1 being least reliable, 5 being most reliable, how reliable are is each type of source for medical information?

____ books and other media

____ personal relationships

____ professionals

____ gatherings

B. School and education
School and education information may include information about schools, special classroom activities, instructive reading material or games for children, etc.

1. How many hours have you spent researching school and education information in the past …

... week ____?

... month ____?

... year ____?

2. In the past have you spent more time or less time researching school and education information? If so, briefly describe the circumstance.

3. Which sources in the list above (or other) do you consult for school and education information? Please list.

4. Which sources in the list above (or other) do you NOT consult for school and education information? Please list.

5. On a scale of 1-5, 1 being least reliable, 5 being most reliable, how reliable are is each type of source for school and education information?

____ books and other media

____ personal relationships

____ professionals

____ gatherings

C. Social and behavioral
Social and behavioral information may include information on social and behavioral therapies, social and behavioral groups or activities, etc.

1. How many hours have you spent researching social and behavioral information in the past …

... week ____?

... month ____?

... year ____?

2. In the past have you spent more time or less time researching social and behavioral information? If so, briefly describe the circumstance.

3. Which sources in the list above (or other) do you consult for social and behavioral information? Please list.

4. Which sources in the list above (or other) do you NOT consult for social and behavioral information? Please list.

5. On a scale of 1-5, 1 being least reliable, 5 being most reliable, how reliable are is each type of source for social and behavioral information?

____ books and other media

____ personal relationships

____ professionals

____ gatherings

D. Legal
Legal information may include research on lawyers, state laws concerning treatment and education of children, etc.

1. How many hours have you spent researching legal information in the past …

... week ____?

... month ____?

... year ____?

2. In the past have you spent more time or less time researching legal information? If so, briefly describe the circumstance.

3. Which sources in the list above (or other) do you consult for legal information? Please list.

4. Which sources in the list above (or other) do you NOT consult for legal information? Please list.

5. On a scale of 1-5, 1 being least reliable, 5 being most reliable, how reliable are is each type of source for legal information?

____ books and other media

____ personal relationships

____ professionals

____ gatherings

E. Nutrition and exercise
Nutrition and exercise information may include information on diet and exercise, affects of food on ASD, etc.

1. How many hours have you spent researching nutrition and exercise in the past …

... week ____?

... month ____?

... year ____?

2. In the past have you spent more time or less time researching nutrition and exercise? If so, briefly describe the circumstance.

3. Which sources in the list above (or other) do you consult for nutrition and exercise information? Please list.

4. Which sources in the list above (or other) do you NOT consult for nutrition and exercise information? Please list.

5. On a scale of 1-5, 1 being least reliable, 5 being most reliable, how reliable are is each type of source for nutrition and exercise information?

____ books and other media

____ personal relationships

____ professionals

____ gatherings




Section III. Follow-up

If you would be willing to be contacted for a follow-up interview or would like to receive the final report of this study, please indicate below and provide an email address. An email address is not required for questionnaires to be considered in the study.

Email: ____________
__ I am willing to be contacted for a follow-up interview.
__ I would like to receive a copy of the final report.

Please, if you get a chance, fill out this survey. It would be a great help for our student project! Completed surveys can be sent to seweissman [at] gmail [dot] com or sew [at] umd [dot] edu (with [at] and [dot] replaced by appropriate punctuation).