Chapter 23 Collaboration Between Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Mental Health Professionals

1. Introduction

1.1. Professional as experts

1.2. The transitional relationship

1.3. Parent as consumers

1.4. Τhe empowerment model

1.5. The negotiation model

1.6. How do parents feel about mental health professionals?

1.7. How do mental health professionals feel about parents?

1.8. Cooperation between parents and mental health professionals

1.9. The present study

2. Methods

2.1. Participants

2.2. Measures

2.2.1. Partnership protocol

2.2.2. Parent measures

2.2.3. Mental health professionals measures

2.3. Procedure

3. Results

3.1. Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders

3.1.1. Baseline data

3.1.2. Post-intervention data

3.1.3. The attitudes of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders towards mental health professionals

3.2. Mental health professionals

3.2.1. Baseline data

3.2.2. Post-intervention data

3.2.3. The attitudes of mental health professionals towards parents of children with autism spectrum disorders

4. Discussion

4.1. The attitudes of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders towards mental health professionals

4.2. The attitudes of mental health professionals towards parents of children with autism spectrum disorders

4.3. Evaluation of the partnership protocol

4.4. Limitations

4.5. Practical implementation and future research

5. Conclusion

Acknowledgement

Appendix

Author details

References