Measurements of stress and family impact in the parents of children with autism spectrum disorders before and after taking part in a training programme
Ayuda-Pascual, R.; Llorente-Comi, Mía.; Martos-Pérez, J.; Rodriguez-Bausá, L.; Olmo-Remesal, L.
Revista de Neurologia 54 Suppl. 1: S73-S80
2012
ISSN/ISBN: 1576-6578 PMID: 22374775 Document Number: 658520
The presence of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the family causes an overall impact on parents and siblings manifested in a significant increase in stress. To analyze whether the implementation of a specific school of families for parents of people with ASD has a positive effect in the family impact, specifically in the stress perception and skills of parents who have children with ASD. A total of 27 parents having children with ASD participated in a school of families from which 13 of them filled a questionnaire of family impact before and after attending the training. Frequency and comparison analysis were carried out through the Wilcoxon interval test. After the following of the school of families, improvement tendencies were shown regarding the decrease of parent's stress, as regards the perception about their answers on their son's behaviors, and significantly, in the assessment of the quality of the time shared among parents and typically developing siblings. It is necessary to implement research programs with bigger samples aimed at being more precise on the influence of the specific training in stress for parents. The idea of developing training programs for families with ASD children is recommended for the different services that support this population as a way of helping in the decrease of stress.