Communications Pattern In Virtual Community To Support Parents Who Have Asd (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Children

Abstract

Abstract. The complex problems of children with autism make parents need a
communication channel to seek information about autism. Patients with autism
require special handling and treatment to minimize the symptoms that often
accompany patients such as tantrums, mood swings or mood swings quickly
also stimming. Based on the research, parents of ASD (Autism Spectrum
Disorder) children have higher levels of stress compared to parents of other
disabilities. They need a place to share and ask questions about many things
about autism. The presence of a virtual community brings quite positive
implications for parents of children with autism. Through virtual communities,
especially in social media, they can communicate with each other and get
information about handling children with autism and gaining online social
support. One virtual community that is considered worthy of research is the LRD
Member SuarAutisme community on Facebook, where the number of members
above 7 thousand numbers and has a high traffic among its members in
exchanging information about the handling of autism.
Based on the above description, this study aims to 1) identify patterns of
communication and exchange of information regarding the treatment of autism
among parents who have children with ASD that occurs in virtual communities
and 2) Describe the most needed information for parents who have children with
ASD in virtual communities
The research approach used is qualitative, with the method of virtual
ethnography. Source of data obtained from the informant with snow ball
sampling technique, the parents who have children with ASD and actively
interact in the virtual community LRD Member SuarAutisme on Facebook. Data
collection procedure will be done through participant observation in virtual
community and in-depth interview to informant. The data will be analyzed
qualitatively which is then interpreted and presented in the form of a description
or narrative to conduct theoretical interpretation and give meaning to the result
of the research.