Stress and Coping Patterns among Parents Having Children with Autism

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Demonstrator in psychiatric & mental health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Zagazig University

2 Assist. Prof. of psychiatric & mental health nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University

3 Professor of psychiatric & mental health, Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University,

4 Prof. of pediatric medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University.

Abstract

Background: Parents of children with autism may suffer high levels of stress, resulting in
disruption in lifestyle and relationship, deprivation of human need, and failure to act in ways
to elimination the cause of the distress. Moreover, family stress can contribute to unfavorable
prognosis. This study was conducted to assess the stress and coping patterns among parents
having children with autism using a cross-sectional analytic design at the Child Clinic of the
El-Abassia Governmental Hospital for mental health, and the Special Needs Health Care
Center in Ain Shams University. It included a convenience sample of 80 parents and their
autistic children. The tools used to collect the data were the Child's Medical and
Developmental Data Sheet, the Parental Coping Strategy Inventory, and the Parenting Stress
Index. Data collection was from October 2009 to April 2010. The study findings showed that
77.5% of the parents were coping with the situation, and 96.3% had high total stress. Coping
increased with increasing birth order (p=0.002), and mother education (p=0.03). Stress score
had negative significant correlations with child IQ (r=-0.479), and father education (r=-
0.231), and a positive correlation with family size (r=0.230) and the time lapse between
symptoms and diagnosis (r=0.284). Recommendations: it is recommended to include the
assessment of parents' stress level as a part of the screening and assessment of
children with ASD. Formation of support groups must be encouraged, with the nurses
exerting more effort in this.

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