2013-09-092010-09-152013-09-092010-04-222009-09-152010-09-15Davel, C 2009, Parents' experiences of their marital relationships after their children have been diagnosed as having autistic disorder, MA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09152010-200415/ >F10/575/gmhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/31262Mini Dissertation (MA (Counselling Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2009.The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding regarding parents‟ experiences of their marital relationships after their children have been diagnosed as having autistic disorder. The phenomenological approach was utilised as a means for collecting and interpreting material. Three couples from the Unica school, Pretoria, wrote accounts of their experiences and were interviewed. Both the written accounts and the interviews were analysed following Giorgi‟s method. The research findings that emerged were themes concerning diagnosis, coping, conflict, being different, the outside world, being a couple, partnership, family-life and autism. Copyrighten© 2009, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.UCTDPhenomenologyQualitative researchPurposive samplingMarital relationshipParentsAutismAutistic disorderGiorgi's method of analysisDescriptive phenomenological methodMini Dissertationhttp://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09152010-200415/