Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Resiliency in Iranian Families with Autistic Children

Abstract

10.30699/jambs.30. 139.123 Background & Objective: Caring for children with autism is associated with parental stress and puts them at risk for depression and anxiety. Increasing resilience may help reduce the parents' stress. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between resilience and anxiety, depression, and stress in families with autistic children in 2018. Materials & Methods:In this cross-sectional study, 137 members of the target families were selected randomly. The cases were surveyed based on the family resilience scale and DASS-21 questionnaire with the checklist of demographics variables. The collected data were analyzed by the MS Excel and SPSS V.22 software.Results: There was no significant correlation between age/gender and resilience, but depression and anxiety was related to the level of resiliency. Income and history of mental illness had significant associations with depression. The family size, educational level, income, and history of mental illness had a significant effect on anxiety. The level of education, income, history of mental illness and gender had statistically significant associations with the level of stress among individuals. Conclusion:Based on the results of this study, family resilience is the factor that directly correlates with the level of depression, anxiety and stress among the family members of the autistic children. It is therefore advisable to increase this ability of individuals in various ways, such as training, counseling and supporting groups.

Experiences of families with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in World Health Organization Afro‐Regions: A scoping review

“…Moreover, families often witnessed changes in family roles, routines, co-parenting dynamics (e.g., disturbed marital, sibling, and family relationships), and alterations in community and work settings (Adams et al, 2020;Glinski & Valjee, 2019;Matenge, 2013;Schlebusch & Dada, 2018). Other global studies, including those from Africa, indicated these challenges affecting women more than men resulting in maternal stress and mental instability when caring for their ASD children (Asmare et al, 2023;Benrween et al, 2022;Di Renzo et al, 2022;Hosseini et al, 2022;Li et al, 2022). The financial strain in caring for the child with ASD has been widely reported in the WHO Afro-region (Allotey, 2020;Mbamba & Ndemole, 2021;Mthombeni & Nwoye, 2018;Oti-Boadi, Oppong Asante, et al, 2020;Van der Merwe, 2015;Van Rooyen, 2016).…”