Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the information-seeking behavior of Egyptian parents of autistic children.

Design/methodology/approach

The study sample consists of 61 parents across Egypt, divided into six focus groups, as equal as possible, to represent Northern, Middle and Southern Egypt.

Findings

Dmographically, of the 61 parents, 32 (52.5%) were fathers, and 29 (47.5%) were mothers. A large number of parents' ages ranged from 31 to 45 years old. The highest percentage of them was holding a BA, followed by a high school/diploma, and the highest percentage was found to be married. The parents of autistic children followed many methods and channels to obtain supportive information related to their children's disease. They used many types of information, which varied between formal and informal sources. While just over a quarter of Egyptian parents prefer to use formal sources (books, newspapers, magazines, health publications, pamphlets, as well as specialized libraries), more than three-quarters of them used informal sources, such as mobile/smartphones, the Web, social media and social networking sites. The information related to the search for institutions supporting autistic people came in the first place, then that information related to searching for specialized centers in treating autistic children, then information related to rehabilitation, integration and psychological support centers for these children and then information related to the search for financial aid provided by charitable or even government agencies. Some parents were found to have limited awareness of their children's treatment mechanism, as some of them do not consider the need to treat their children in a systematic, continuous, and systematic manner. Similarly, the lack of basic services and shortage of government centers specializing in the treatment of these children. Parents also emphasized the lack of government support, as well as the lack of curative research centers. Some also pointed out that there was a shortage of workshops for the rehabilitation of their children and themselves as well.

Originality/value

This research is considered to be the first research of its kind at the local and Arab levels, which is also one of the few studies at the regional level that is interested in this community of information seekers. The findings of this research can raise awareness about the information behavior of Egyptian parents of autistic children among those who are interested in the role of the information and its use by specific groups of the information society, as well as decision makers.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-11-2020-0494

中文翻译：

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自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 儿童埃及父母的信息寻求行为：描述性研究

目的

本研究的目的是调查埃及自闭症儿童父母的信息寻求行为。

设计/方法/方法

研究样本由埃及各地的 61 位家长组成，分为六个尽可能平等的焦点小组，分别代表埃及北部、中部和南部。

发现

从人口统计学上看，在 61 位父母中，32 位 (52.5%) 是父亲，29 位 (47.5%) 是母亲。大量父母的年龄介于 31 至 45 岁之间。他们中拥有学士学位的比例最高，其次是高中/文凭，最高比例是已婚。自闭症儿童的家长通过多种方式和渠道获取与儿童疾病相关的支持信息。他们使用了多种类型的信息，在正式和非正式来源之间有所不同。虽然略高于四分之一的埃及父母更喜欢使用正式来源（书籍、报纸、杂志、健康出版物、小册子以及专业图书馆），但其中超过四分之三的人使用非正式来源，例如移动/智能手机，网络、社交媒体和社交网站。首先是关于寻找自闭症儿童支持机构的信息，然后是寻找治疗自闭症儿童的专门中心的信息，然后是这些儿童康复、融合和心理支持中心的信息，然后是与自闭症儿童相关的信息。寻求慈善机构甚至政府机构提供的经济援助。一些家长被发现对孩子的治疗机制认识有限，因为他们中的一些人不认为有必要以系统的、持续的、系统的方式对待孩子。同样，缺乏基本服务和专门治疗这些儿童的政府中心。家长还强调缺乏政府支持，以及缺乏治疗研究中心。一些人还指出，缺乏为他们的孩子和他们自己进行康复的讲习班。

原创性/价值

这项研究被认为是第一次在地方和阿拉伯层面进行此类研究，这也是少数对这个信息寻求者社区感兴趣的区域层面的研究之一。这项研究的结果可以提高埃及自闭症儿童父母对信息的作用及其对信息社会特定群体的使用以及决策者的信息行为的认识。

同行评审

本文的同行评审历史可从以下网址获得：https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-11-2020-0494