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Learning Objective 1: - Understand coping strategies used by African-American parents raising a child with autism.
Learning Objective 2: - Examine the relationships between parental stress, severity of the child's autism, and the effects on coping strategies in African-American parents raising a child with autism
Methods: The double ABCX model of family stress and crisis provided the theoretical framework. It was hypothesized that, as parental stress levels and perceived severity of autism increased, perceived helpfulness of coping strategies would decrease. Fifty African-American parents of autistic children were recruited through autism support groups and completed four instruments (Perceived Stress Scale, Pervasive Developmental Disorder Assessment/Screening Questionnaire, Coping Health Inventory for Parents, and a Q-sort) designed to assess perceived parental stress, parental coping strategies, and perceived parental severity of the child’s autism.
Results: The primary finding was that perceived parental stress did not increase in relationship to perceived autism s everity. Nor was any significant change found in perceived helpfulness of coping strategies in relationship to severity of autism. This may indicate that although raising a child with autism can be very stressful, it is not the main predictor of parental stress levels in African-American parents. Findings from this study also suggest that the usefulness of parental coping strategies were not significantly associated with perceived autism severity. Like perceived parental stress levels, usefulness of parental coping strategies are probably determined by a variety of factors in the parent’s lives.
Conclusion: Further research should identify what African-American parents feel is most stressful about raising a child with autism, and what types of interventions they feel are most helpful. By doing this, healthcare providers can provide methods better aimed at reducing stress in African-American parents raising a child with autism, and which may promote a greater sense of well-being in this population.
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