Siblings of individuals with autism and their thoughts and feelings about their family

This study aimes to investigate the feelings and thoughts of elder siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) about their family members. Participants were 3 non-disabled (ND) siblings of children with ASD, aged 15-16 years. Narrative inquiry were adopted to conduct the study. The ND siblings of children with ASD were given cameras and asked to introduce their family by 10 photographs within four days. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews via those photos and analyzed through narrative analysis. In the study, three main titles were given to all participants' stories. The first main title is about the participant's thoughts about themselves; the second main title is about the participant's thoughts about his/her sibling with ASD and the third main title is the participant's thoughts about his/her family. We can infer the following results from the words of the three adolescents who have siblings with ASD: The male sibling feel embarrassment about behaviors of his sibling with ASD; siblings feel nervous about their sibling's future; all three seem to have lack of information about ASD; they are not satisfied about the time they spend with their parents; besides female siblings seemed acquiescent and protective towards the child with ASD. Implications and future research needs were discussed according to the findings of the study. Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, sibling, family, photo elicitation, narrative, qualitative research