Keralam child development centre gets ₹35-lakh grant to study autism-related parental grief
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Child Development Centre (CDC), Thiruvananthapuram, has received an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-approved grant of ₹35 lakh for a three-year research project titled “Development and Validation of a Tool for Assessing Grief among Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.”
The project, led by CDC Director Dr. Deepa Bhaskaran, aims to develop and validate a culturally relevant tool to assess grief among parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
Parents of children with autism often experience profound grief as their children may be unable to participate fully in social situations, Dr. Bhaskaran said. The issue is often not addressed because society usually blames parents for children’s developmental issues.
The study will be qualitative, carried out with extensive interviews with parents. The aim is to examine the prevalence, patterns and predictors of grief among Indian parents, and to create a tool to help them handle it, with outcomes supporting counselling interventions and policy recommendations.
