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Abstract Autism is defined as a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders, present from very early time, which upset the development of social behavior and communication. The disorder persists throughout life and co-occurring neurological or psychological difficulties are frequent. Regardless of advances in our understanding of symptoms, the causes stay generally unspecific and the most valuable intervention remain vague. The main goals of treatment are to lessen associated family deficits and family distress, and to increase quality of life and functional independence. The parents having children with autism suffer from high level of stress, resulting in disruption in life style and relationship, deprivation of human need, and failure to act in ways to eliminate the cause of stress. Moreover, family stress can contribute to unfavorable prognosis. While parents have a better insight into their child’s needs, can understand their behavior and may create an autism friendly environment. Despite the advantages of an early diagnosis, autism often remains undetected and thus untreated. The study aimed at: Assess psychosocial problems among parents having children with autism. Assess coping strategies among parents having children with autism. Assess the relation between psychosocial problems and coping strategies. Research question: The study is based on answered the following questions: What are psychosocial problems among parents having children with autism? What are the coping strategies among parents having children with autism? What’s the relation between psychosocial problems and coping strategies among parents having children with autism? Research setting: 1. The study was conducted in autism outpatient clinic at El-Abbassia Mental Health Hospital. 2. Al Demerdash university hospital (Institute of psychiatric medicine). 3. Outpatient clinic at Fayoum University Hospital. Subjects of the study: The whole sample was formed 80 of parents having a children with autism disorders. Data collection lasted for 5 months from the beginning of January 2016 to the end of May 2016. The tools used for the study consist of: Data were collected using the following tools: 1- (A) Interview questionnaire sheet about socio demographic and clinical characteristics data sheet for children and their parents (Appendix I): It was constructed by researcher, this section included brief personal profile question about parents and Autistic child. For child: It include name, age, gender, number of his\her sibling, degree of disorder, and onset of disorder as well as the family history of autism. For parents: It includes age, sex, and level of education, occupation, as well as parents residence. (B) Interview questionnaire sheet about psychosocial problems among parents having children with autism: It was constructed by researcher, to assess psychosocial problems faced parents having children with autism.2- Parental coping strategies inventory (PCSI) (Appendix II): It was constructed by (Yeh, 2001) and developed by researcher to measure the coping strategies among parents having children with autism. The scale consisted of 61 items for each items, parents are presented with four graded response: Strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree. Pilot study: The pilot study was conducted on eight parents having children with autism. They represent 10% of the total sample. Those parents were excluded from the actual study sample. The main findings of the present study could be summarized as follows: An analysis of socio-demographic characteristics showed that majority of parents shared of autism children’s information was mothers. Mean mother’s age were around early thirties, while Mean father’s ages were around early fourteen. All fathers were workers while majority of mothers were not working. More than half of fathers and mothers were highly educated. More than three quarters of families were living in urban.It is also found that mean children age were around five while mean duration of autism diagnosis around three. Also More than three quarters of children were males. Less than one quarter of children were twin. Mean brothers number and sisters number were (1.1±0.6, 1.6± 0.9 and 2.6±1.3) respectively, which mean of family order (1.8±1.2), the majority (61.3%) of Autistic child were first born child (6.3%) of them middle child, while (32.4%) the last child. An analysis illustrate that rang of Autistic grade less than one fifth of children were severe grade. Less than one quarter of child have family history of autism An analysis of more than half of parents sometimes have psychological problems as feel that their autistic child distracted easily and has concentration difficulty, their child moody behavior and the parents suffer from lack of interest in all matters and people, reluctant to make any decision, hardly concentrate on anything also change in sleeping and appetite. In addition to more than half of parents sometimes suffer from social problems as embarrassed from their child action and financial problems as high cost of medication and rehabilitation center and unavailability of qualified specialists to deal with their children. On the other hand most frequent coping strategy used by parents as maintaining an optimistic state of mind followed by increasing religious activities, social support. At the other extreme coping through challenge was the least frequently used. There is highly statistically significant relation between coping strategies and psychosocial problems. - In the light of the study findings, it is recommended to include educational programs to increase parents’ knowledge and awareness of the nature of autism and the impact of having children with autism on the future outcome of their children. - Research to identify effectiveness of nursing interventions to enhancing the use of coping strategies among parents of autistic children. - Programs for parents of children with autism such as stress management technique. |