Table 5.

Thematic analysis of free text responses of concerns about in-home respite services

Overarching theme	Frequency (%)	Sub-theme	Frequency	Examples
COVID-19 concern	133 (50.6)	Fear of illness	109	• “Bringing illness into the home” • “Do not want to spread Covid 19.”
		Need for social distancing	24	• “It goes against social distancing guidelines.” • “Less people in my home as possible.”
Respite provider concern	51 (19.4)	Stranger/trust	27	• “Making sure the person is trustworthy and has had a complete security check.”
		Resistance from person with ASD	16	• “I would have a concern that he would not click with the person.”
		Qualifications/training	4	• “ behavioral challenges that can be too severe to hand off to a new/untrained person”
		Risk of abuse	4	• “We have had previous abuse”
Family concern	23 (8.8)	Financial	3	• “If medicaid would cover it.”
		Disruptive to routine	14	• “They don't know my kid or what his specific needs are and it would take too much time to tell them to make it worth it.”
		Logistics/space	6	• “house is small so there is not enough room.”
Not desired	56 (21.3)	Already have this	6	• “I already have a respite provider that I hired in”
		Not needed	50	• “Doesnt need it at this time”

The frequencies of sub-themes do not sum to the frequency of the overarching theme because each free-response can have more than one sub-theme