Browsing by Author "Parviainen, Oona"

The purpose of this research is to describe multi-professional support for autism spectrum persons during their life's transition points. The research describes collaborative practices and challenges in multi-professional cooperation. Furthermore, the purpose is to describe the diagnosis and post-treatment of people with autism as well as their views from professionals' point of view. Autism and autism spectrum especially in adult individuals have been studied in Finland moderately little and therefore participation in the European Union ASDEU project is significant for Finland. The material of this research has been collected as a part of the project and the results of the research are later comparable with the countries participating in the project. Consequently, the subject of this research is significant from the societal point of view. This is a qualitative research with a discretionary sample of elven people (N1-N9). They are professionals in four different sectors, namely social services, health care, the third sector and the Social Insurance Institution. They are working in different parts of Finland which makes regional comparison possible. The data collection method is a structured theme interview and all the interviews are recorded and transcribed into written form. The data analysis methods used are discourse analysis and coding. In addition, the research strategy takes advantage of the features of survey research. A variety of methods are used in order to get the most comprehensive analysis of the research material. The research results show that the autistic spectrum individuals are offered some support and services by different professionals. The challenge is the availability and accessibility of services needed by persons with autistic spectrum because there are significant regional differences around Finland. The lack of a formal care chain is also identified as a major problem. On the other hand, a multi-professional cooperation between different professional groups works best within a single sector. The challenges in multi-professional cooperation are both within the sectors and in collaboration across sectors. However, the interviewed professionals' nominate a total of 15 good practices for autistic spectrum adults in Finland.