Caregiving Affliction: A Comparison Study on the levels of Depression and Anxiety Among Parents of Autistic Children during Pre and Post Therapeutic Intervention

Abstract

Introduction: Parenting a young child with ASD requires a higher level of family adaptive functioning compared to parenting typically developing children. It has been discovered by researchers that parents of children with ASD are under more stress than typical parents, increasing evidence indicates that intervention can also have positive effects on parent and family functioning, which in turn can enhance child outcomes.

Purpose: This study examined the effect of intervention strategies, care barriers and support services on the chronic stress and anxiety levels of parents with autistic children and also ccompares the depression, stress and anxiety among those parents before and after therapeutic intervention.

Method: In this study a total of 20 parents with children (age-2-5 yrs) with ASD were taken as samples. Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale, DASS 42 (Loviband, 1995) to measure three negative conditions, such as depression, anxiety and stress.

Result: Before receiving therapeutic care, the parents of children with autism spectrum disorders scored higher on despair, anxiety, and stress. After six months of therapeutic intervention, the data reveals a small reduction in all three of these characteristics in the group of twenty parents.

Conclusion: The current study concludes that stress, worry, and sadness are prevalent in parents of autistic children. All three variables showed a discernible decline after six months of therapy: stress dropped from 20.89 to 17.67, anxiety dropped from 13.61 to 11.89, and depression fell from a mean of 19.67 to 16.11.