The effect of the psychoeducational group family education program for families of children with ASD on parents: A pilot study.

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurobiological developmental deficiency which manifests itself with social interaction and communication disorder and repetitive behaviors and concerns. The individual with ASD have some adverse effects on the family. There are research results in the literature which report that the levels of stress and depression in parents of children with ASD are high, their perceptions of social support are low, and their family functioning is impaired. This study aims to investigate the effect of the Psychoeducational Group Family Education Program (PGFEP), developed by the researchers for families of children diagnosed with ASD within 0-2 years, on parents' stress, depression, social support perception, and family functions. The effect of the PGFEP was examined with a pilot study before the main implementation. This study was conducted with the pre-test post-test weak experimental design. Data were analyzed by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. When the data were analyzed, the PGFEP was observed to reduce the stress and depression levels of the parents and increase the level of perceived social support in general. However, it was observed that the program did not have a statistically significant effect on the family functions of the parents of children with ASD.

Relationship between Parental Burnout Level and Perceived Social Support Levels of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…There is a negative relationship between the perceived social companionship support level score and parental burnout. These findings are in line with the findings in the literature stating that the increased perceived social support level affects the psychological well-being of parents positively (Ardic & Cavkaytar, 2019;Weiss, 2002).…”

“…Therefore, it can be thought that this circumstance is decisive in decreasing the parents' negative emotions stemming from arguments and uneasiness experienced between the parents because of the child's needs. The literature reveals that parents have information needs and if these needs are not met, their psychological responses such as stress and anxiety may increase and that informative counseling decreases the parental stress and anxiety levels (Ardic & Cavkaytar, 2019).…”

“…This situation, which is difficult enough for the family, becomes more difficult when the new family member has a disability. This puts additional responsibilities on the family, and these responsibilities can become important sources of stress (Ardic & Cavkaytar, 2019;Cassidy et al, 2008;Duygun & Sezgin, 2003). Psychological well-being of parents of children with disabilities is affected more negatively than parents of children with natural development (Hartley et al, 2012;Hayes & Watson, 2013;Hsiao, 2016;Manor-Binyamini & Abu-Ajaj, 2017).…”

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“…After obtaining psychoeducation family therapy, the stress of the mother in caring for an intellectual disability child experienced a significant decrease (p-value < 0.05). The results of this study are similar to those of previous research [31][32][33][34], stating that family psychoeducation therapy is significantly able to reduce the stress of parents in parenting children who have a positive impact on the interaction between mother and child. The provision of family psychoeducation therapy after being given nursing intervention turned out to provide a greater increase compared with performing the nursing intervention.…”