Psychoeducational intervention improves Chinese mothers' parenting and symptoms of their autistic children

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Yan-Fei Zu ◽  
Guangxing Xu ◽  
Ya-Song Du ◽  
Juzhe Xi ◽  
Ya-Ting Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Group Intervention ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Psychoeducational Intervention ◽  
Autism Symptoms ◽  
Emotional Words ◽  
Psychoeducational Group ◽  
And Coping

In China, mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder struggle with parenting, often becoming depressed. This can harm the well-being and sociocognitive development of their children. We determined whether a psychoeducational group intervention increases the frequency of mothers' positive speech patterns and alleviates their depression, and, in turn, whether these changes improve the behavior of their children. Mothers (8 from Shanghai, 8 from Taiwan) participated in a 12-week intervention of a weekly counseling session. At the end, analysis of transcripts of the mothers' speech showed that the frequency of positive emotional words increased and negative emotional words decreased, and their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory decreased significantly. Children also showed a significant reduction in scores on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale. These results demonstrate that counseling via a semistructured group intervention can improve mothers' parenting and coping skills, and help to alleviate their children's autism symptoms.

scholarly journals Correlation between personality traits in parents and symptoms of autism in children

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena Pereira Pondé ◽  
Sabrina Calmon Oliveira ◽  
Saulo Leal Merelles ◽  
Gustavo Marcelino Siquara
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Childhood Autism Rating Scale ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Autism Symptoms ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Severe Autism

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder may be more likely to have a mental disorder, both due to genetic and environmental reasons. A cross-sectional study involving 161 children, 161 mothers and 108 fathers. Diagnosis followed the criteria established in DSM–5. Symptom severity was evaluated using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale. The Factorial Personality Inventory served to evaluate parents’ personality traits.  Several correlations were found between mothers and fathers personality traits and children symptoms. In both parents, personality traits associated with greater intransigence/less flexibility and fewer social skills were those associated with more severe autism symptoms in the children.

scholarly journals Savouring as an Intervention to Decrease Negative Affect in Anxious Mothers of Children with Autism and Neurotypical Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 652
Author(s):  
Ariel Pereira ◽  
Atiqah Azhari ◽  
Chloe Hong ◽  
Gerin Gaskin ◽  
Jessica Borelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Positive Experience ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Mother Child Relationships ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The Individual

Savouring is an emotion regulation strategy and intervention that focuses on the process of attending, intensifying and prolonging positive experiences and positive affect associated with these memories. Personal savouring involves a reflection on positive memories that are specific to the individual and do not involve others. In contrast, relational savouring entails reflecting on instances when people were responsive to the needs of their significant others. Such interventions hold potential benefits in enhancing positive affect (PA) and reducing negative affect (NA) for both parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and parents of neurotypical children. Adults with greater symptoms of generalised anxiety have been found to have less PA and more NA. However, no study has investigated the effects of a mother’s anxiety symptoms on the efficacy of savouring in enhancing PA and reducing NA. Thus, this paper combined personal and relational savouring to investigate whether savouring may enhance PA and reduce NA of a pooled sample of mothers of neurotypical children and mothers of children with ASD. 52 mothers of neurotypical children and 26 mothers of children with ASD aged 3–7 years old were given a series of questionnaires and randomly assigned to either relational savouring or personal savouring conditions. In relational savouring, mothers were asked to reflect upon a shared positive experience with their child while in the personal savouring condition, a personal positive experience was recalled. Across mothers of children with ASD and neurotypical children, findings suggest that savouring leads to a decrease in NA (p < 0.01) but not increases in PA. Similarly, mothers with higher levels of anxiety experience a greater decrease in NA (p < 0.001) compared to mothers with lower levels of anxiety post-savouring. This study proposes that a brief savouring intervention may be effective among mothers of preschoolers. As lower levels of negative affect is linked to healthier psychological well-being, mothers might be able to engage in more effective and warm parenting after savouring exercises, which would cultivate positive mother-child relationships that benefit their children in the long-term.

scholarly journals New Frontiers in Caregiving Research: Biopsychosocial Perspectives and Interventions

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 615-615
Author(s):  
Jyoti Savla ◽  
Karen Roberto ◽  
Mamta Sapra
Keyword(s):  
Family Caregivers ◽  
Memory Loss ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychoeducational Intervention ◽  
Loved One ◽  
Daily Diary Study ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
And Coping ◽  
With Memory ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Although families embrace the opportunity to care for a loved one, caregiving is stressful and takes a toll on the caregiver’s health and well-being. Earlier studies of stress and coping among family caregivers focused on psychological outcomes and emotional well-being. In the last decade, stress researchers have broadened their focus to include biomarkers and health outcomes. Data from two studies of caregivers of persons with memory loss will be used to discuss two new frontiers of caregiving research. First, a daily-diary study will be used to identify the mechanism by which stress disrupts the physiological processes and proliferates into serious psychopathology and pre-clinical and clinical health conditions. Second, a mindfulness-based psychoeducational intervention study will be utilized to identify malleable factors that can be harnessed to lower stress and improve the well-being of family caregivers. Next steps for caregiving research in the context of demographic and technological trends will be discussed.

Stability and change in resolution of diagnosis among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: Child and parental contributions

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4pt1) ◽  
pp. 1045-1057 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurit Yirmiya ◽  
Ifat Seidman ◽  
Nina Koren-Karie ◽  
David Oppenheim ◽  
Smadar Dolev
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Maternal Attachment ◽  
Child Characteristics ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Parental Characteristics

AbstractThe contribution of change over time in parent and child characteristics to parents’ resolution of child's diagnosis was examined among 78 mothers and fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder. Children's characteristics (e.g., mental age and severity of symptoms), parental characteristics (e.g., attachment-related anxiety and stress level), and parents’ resolution of their child's diagnosis (resolved vs. unresolved) were examined at Time 1, and reassessed 3 years later at Time 2. Results indicated a deferential contribution of change in parent and child characteristics among mothers and fathers. An increase in child symptom severity and in maternal attachment-related anxiety, as well as longer durations of time since receiving the diagnosis, significantly predicted maternal resolved status at Time 2. Conversely, none of the changes in children's or paternal characteristics predicted paternal resolved status at Time 2. Results are discussed in relation to child and parental contributions to resolution, the differences in the adjustment and well-being of mothers and fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder, parental growth following receiving the diagnosis, and the need for intervention components specific to parental resolution and attachment-related anxiety.

Gastrointestinal concerns in children with autism spectrum disorder: A qualitative study of family experiences

Autism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 136236132110626
Author(s):  
Calliope Holingue ◽  
Ohemaa Poku ◽  
Danika Pfeiffer ◽  
Sarah Murray ◽  
M. Daniele Fallin
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Gastrointestinal Symptoms ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Quality Healthcare ◽  
Gastrointestinal Distress ◽  
Gastrointestinal Problems ◽  
Verbal Behaviors

Gastrointestinal distress is a prevalent issue in the autism spectrum disorder community, with implications for the person living with autism spectrum disorder and their families. However, the experiences of families caring for a child with co-occurring autism spectrum disorder and gastrointestinal symptoms have not been explored to date. We conducted one-on-one semi-structured interviews with 12 parents of children with co-occurring autism spectrum disorder and gastrointestinal symptoms. Using an inductive analysis approach, drawing on phenomenology, we identified four major themes across interviews. First, parents reported that their child had difficulty verbally communicating the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms, leading parents to rely on bodily signs and non-verbal behaviors to recognize when their child was experiencing gastrointestinal distress (Theme 1). Next, gastrointestinal issues impacted the child’s well-being and the ability to participate in and fully engage in activities (Theme 2), and the family’s well-being (Theme 3). Finally, parents often experienced challenges with seeking accessible and quality healthcare for their child’s gastrointestinal problems (Theme 4). These findings elucidate the incredible toll that gastrointestinal symptoms have on the overall wellness of children with autism spectrum disorder and their families. Lay abstract Gastrointestinal problems are common in the autism spectrum disorder community and may affect both the person with autism spectrum disorder and their families. However, little research is available on the experiences of families who have a child with both autism spectrum disorder and gastrointestinal symptoms. We held one-on-one interviews with 12 parents of children who had both autism spectrum disorder and gastrointestinal symptoms. We analyzed the raw text responses from these interviews and identified four main themes. First, parents shared that their children had trouble verbally communicating when they were experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms (Theme 1). This led parents to use bodily signs, such as changes in the stool, and non-verbal behaviors, such as irritability, to recognize when their child was having gastrointestinal symptoms. Next, gastrointestinal issues affected both the child’s well-being and their ability to attend class and extracurricular or social activities (Theme 2). The gastrointestinal issues also affected the family’s routines, overall well-being, and their ability to go out and do activities together as a family (Theme 3). Finally, parents often had challenges receiving accessible and quality healthcare for their child’s gastrointestinal problems (Theme 4). Together, these findings highlight the enormous burden that gastrointestinal symptoms have on the wellness of children with autism spectrum disorder and their families.

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