Stress and Resilience among Family Caregivers of Children with Autism

Abstract

Background: Resilience plays a pivotal role in mitigating stress within family caregivers of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Aim of the study: Was to assess stress and resilience among family caregivers’ of children's with autism. Study design: Descriptive design was used to achieve the aim of the study. Subject: A convenient sample of 285 family caregivers. Study setting: The study was conducted at the child clinic of EL-Abbassia Governmental Hospital for Mental Health affiliated to the General Secretariat of Mental Health and Egypt’s Ministry of Health. Tools of data collection: Three tools utilized for data collection (1) Socio-demographic characteristics questionnaire for family caregivers and children with autism (2) Parental Stress scale (3) Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA). Results: The findings revealed that about two thirds of the studied family caregivers had mild levels of parental stress and more than half had high levels of family coherence, social support, personal competence, and social competence domains, however there were strong negative correlations between total parental stress levels of the studied family caregivers and their personal competence, social competence, family coherence, and social support domains of resilience and total resilience level. Conclusion: The majority of the studied family caregivers of autism had strong negative correlations between total parental stress levels and their personal competence, social competence, family coherence, and social support domains of resilience and total resilience level. Recommendation: •Provide psycho-educational programs to all family caregivers of autism children have to improve their resilience skills. Designing educational program for nurses who working with children with autism and their caregivers to help them acquire knowledge and skills to enhance their quality of life. •Building a support network, joining online communities and forums, and connecting with other parents can provide valuable emotional support and practical assistance.