For parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), studies have shown that a lack of social support is associated with decreased quality of life. Furthermore, evidence suggests peer support might be a valuable social support for parents of neurodivergent children. However, rural families are less likely to access parent support groups. Additionally, several barriers have been reported for parents in low-resource settings regarding accessing support groups, with online groups being proposed as a possible solution. We seek to explore whether rurality influences where parents seek social support, as well as therapeutic services for their children. Our second aim is to explore if rurality influences the modality of support that parents prefer, namely in-person versus online. Understanding the relationship between rurality and types of preferred social support and the relationship between rurality and preferred modality of parental support could inform the focus of future efforts aimed to improve social support, and thus quality of life, for parents of neurodivergent children. To determine these relationships, we will create and distribute a survey which addresses the proposed hypotheses. Rural-Urban Continuum Codes will be used to determine rurality based on provided county data. Correlational analyses will be used to test both hypotheses. We predict higher rurality scores will correlate with lower reported support from family and community members. We also predict higher rurality scores will correlate with higher preference for online support.

Morgan Burnham is in her final year of her undergraduate studies at the University of Alabama where she studies Neuroscience and Spanish. She is a research assistant at the Center for Youth Development and Intervention at the University of Alabama. She has given several poster presentations on topics relevant to the studies of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability