scholarly journals Anxiety and depression in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder during the first COVID-19 lockdown: Report from the ELENA cohort

Author(s):  
Ela Miniarikova ◽  
Christelle Vernhet ◽  
Marianne Peries ◽  
Julie Loubersac ◽  
Marie-Christine Picot ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (01) ◽  
pp. 4-10
Author(s):  
J. , , , Anu Rita ◽  
P. P. Kannan ◽  
Vijaya Raghavan ◽  
Shanthi Nambi

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most common pervasive developmental disorder and present with varied severity and clinical presentation. The diagnosis of ASD in the children has a huge psychological impact among their primary caregivers, leading to distress and mental health issues. The aim of our study was to assess the association between the severity and repetitive behaviours in children with autism spectrum disorder and anxiety and depression levels among their primary caregivers. Materials and methods: Children with autism spectrum disorder and their primary caregivers were recruited from the child psychiatry unit of large tertiary children hospital in south India, after informed consent. Severity of ASD was assessed by Childhood Autism Rating Scale – 1 (CARS-1) and repetitive behaviour by Repetitive behaviour scale - Revised (RBS-R). Among the caregivers, anxiety levels were assessed by Hamilton rating scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) and depression levels were assessed by Hamilton rating scale for Depression (HAM-D). Results: We recruited 100 children with ASD and their mothers (primary caregivers) in the study. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among mothers of children with ASD was 44% and 30%. Statistically significant correlation was observed between CARS scores and HAM-A (p=0.002) and HAM-D (p less than 0.001) scores. Among the repetitive behaviours, self-injurious behaviour was found to be significantly associated with anxiety (p less than 0.001) and depression (p less than 0.001) scores, while stereotyped (P =0.002) and compulsive (p=0.004) behaviours were associated with depression scores. Conclusion: There is a significant association between severity of autism spectrum disorder and anxiety and depression among their mothers.


Author(s):  
Samuel Bezerra Machado Junior ◽  
Meline Ivone Oliveira Celestino ◽  
Juliane Penalva Costa Serra ◽  
Jean Caron ◽  
Milena Pereira Pondé

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luxi Wang ◽  
Dexin Li ◽  
Shixu Pan ◽  
Jinhe Zhai ◽  
Wei Xia ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives The psychological distress caused by COVID-19 may be pronounced among the parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study aimed to investigate psychological distress among parents of children with ASD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A total of 1764 parents of children with ASD and 4962 parents of typically developing (TD) children were recruited. The participants completed an online survey which contained demographic information, the impact due to COVID-19 crisis, resilience, coping styles, anxiety and depression. Hierarchical linear regression was used to assess the contributions of these variables to anxiety and depression. Results After adjusting for demographic variables, the following factors were associated with parents’ anxiety and depression symptoms: (i) Whether or not the participants had a child with ASD; (ii) resilience; (iii) coping strategies, and; (iv) the impact due to COVID-19. Among these, the psychological stress caused by COVID-19 played the most important role in parental anxiety (β = 0.353) and depression (β = 0.242) symptoms. Parents of children with ASD had lower levels of resilience and positive coping, and used more negative coping strategies than parents of TD children. Among all participants, 8.0 and 24.2% of parents had symptoms of anxiety and depression, respectively. Compared to parents of TD children, more parents of children with ASD exhibited symptoms of anxiety and depression (12.2% vs. 6.6%; 31.0% vs. 21.7%, respectively). Conclusions During the COVID-19 pandemic, parents experienced varying levels of anxiety and depression, particularly, parents of children with ASD. More specific attention should be paid to parental mental health and long-term effective intervention programs, that are targeted towards parents of children with ASD, and such programs should be promoted around China in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Breeanna Campbell ◽  
Michelle Curran ◽  
Raymond Inkpen ◽  
Mary Katsikitis ◽  
Lee Kannis-Dymand

Purpose Metacognitive beliefs and processes have been found to perpetuate anxiety and depression in youth and adults. However, the presence of metacognitive beliefs in children with autism spectrum disorder is somewhat unclear and has received limited research attention to date. The purpose of this paper is to explore metacognitive beliefs in children with autism and associations with anxiety and depression. Design/methodology/approach In total, 23 high functioning participants (17 male and 6 female) between the ages of 8 and 12 (M=10.38) diagnosed on the autism spectrum completed the study. Participants completed the Revised Children’s Scale of Anxiety and Depression and the Metacognitions Questionnaire for Children. Findings Correlation analyses revealed that positive and negative metacognitive beliefs were found, as hypothesised, to be prevalent in this sample. Originality/value Despite methodological limitations, this is one of the first research evaluations to provide evidence for metacognitive beliefs in high functioning children with autism and comorbid anxiety or low mood.


Author(s):  
J. Anu Rita ◽  
P. P. Kannan ◽  
Vijaya Raghavan ◽  
Shanthi Nambi

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most common pervasive developmental disorder and present with varied severity and clinical presentation. The diagnosis of ASD in the children has a huge psychological impact among their primary caregivers, leading to distress and mental health issues. The aim of our study was to assess the association between the severity and repetitive behaviours in children with autism spectrum disorder and anxiety and depression levels among their primary caregivers. Materials and methods: Children with autism spectrum disorder and their primary caregivers were recruited from the child psychiatry unit of large tertiary children hospital in south India, after informed consent. Severity of ASD was assessed by Childhood Autism Rating Scale – 1 (CARS-1) and repetitive behaviour by Repetitive behaviour scale - Revised (RBS-R). Among the caregivers, anxiety levels were assessed by Hamilton rating scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) and depression levels were assessed by Hamilton rating scale for Depression (HAM-D). Results: We recruited 100 children with ASD and their mothers (primary caregivers) in the study. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among mothers of children with ASD was 44% and 30%. Statistically significant correlation was observed between CARS scores and HAM-A (p=0.002) and HAM-D (p less than 0.001) scores. Among the repetitive behaviours, self-injurious behaviour was found to be significantly associated with anxiety (p less than 0.001) and depression (p less than 0.001) scores, while stereotyped (P =0.002) and compulsive (p=0.004) behaviours were associated with depression scores. Conclusion: There is a significant association between severity of autism spectrum disorder and anxiety and depression among their mothers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Andini Iskayanti ◽  
Nurul Hartini

This study aimed to examine parenting self-efficacy especially in mothers who have children with autism spectrum disorder and who suffer from parenting stress. They showed symptoms of anxiety and depression, which indicated parenting stress. Parenting self-efficacy is predicted to be a factor that can decrease anxiety and depression. There were 45 mothers from the city of Surabaya selected through purposive sampling technique to be the participants of this study. The data were collected through a survey using questionnaires concerning Self-efficacy for Parenting Task Index (SEPTI) and Parenting Stress Index Short Form (PSI-SF). The data analyzed using the statistical parametric of the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient showed that the correlation coefficient was -0.424 and the significance was 0.004. It was concluded that high parenting self-efficacy of mothers who have children with autism spectrum disorder correlates with parenting stress.


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