title: Determinants of maternal satisfaction with diagnosis disclosure of autism.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Diagnosis disclosure is an important clinical issue in developmental disabilities, which may influence parents' ability to cope with their child's conditions. This paper presents the content and patterns of diagnosis-informed counseling for mothers of children with autism and investigates the determinants for maternal satisfaction with this counseling, in order to improve clinical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mothers of 151 children, aged 3-12 years, with DSM-IV autistic disorder, confirmed by the Chinese version of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised, were assessed. We collected information about the mothers' experience with diagnosis-informed counseling, their personality characteristics, and the extent to which they were satisfied with the counseling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Satisfaction with diagnosis-informed counseling was related more to the context of the counseling, including the attitude of the counselors and the timing and duration of counseling, than to its content. Parents' social desirability, educational level, and employment status were negatively associated with their satisfaction with counseling. However, immediate emotion, neuroticism, and extroversion did not have a significant effect on the satisfaction with counseling. Approximately 60% of the mothers preferred to be informed of having an autistic child after the diagnosis had been confirmed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that more efforts are needed to improve the quality of diagnosis-informed counseling in autism, particularly in the context of breaking the news to mothers of children with autism. Future study could further examine the moderating effect of diagnostic subtype of autism spectrum disorders, treatment response, or social support on maternal satisfaction with diagnosis-informed counseling (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00494754).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yen-Nan
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Miao-Chun
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ju-Chin
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Taipei Child Assessment and Early Intervention Center, Branch for Women and Children, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-Ching
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Jiun
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou Medical Center, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Yu
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: ylchien@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Yi-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Susan Shur-Fen
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Gau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003376:Counseling; D002658:Developmental Disabilities; D030881:Disclosure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013624:Taiwan
keywords: autism; disclosure; informed counseling; mothers; satisfaction