: Coping Strategies to Help Ameliorate Stress in Families with Children Autism

The stress of families with children with autism is well documented in the research dating back decades. The research has focused on the types of stressors affecting the families, the effects of stress, and the coping strategies used by the families. The presentation will consist of a review of the literature and a discussion of the effective and non-effective coping strategies used by families with children with autism. Along with the increasing numbers of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), there are more families having to learn to cope with the daily demands of having a child on the autism spectrum. According to the literature, parents of children with autism experience higher levels of stress than parents of typically developing children or children with other disabilities such as Down syndrome. This increase in diagnosis of ASD combined with the high levels of stress in families calls for the field to place a greater emphasis on providing support for the families. With this in mind, we conducted an extensive literature review in which the criteria were (a) at least one child was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, (b) families demonstrated levels of stress, and (c) coping strategies/interventions were use. Our findings indicated that the most commonly identified types of stress were depression, anxiety, frustration, social isolation, and spousal relationship problems. Further, the research indicated that the most effective strategies for coping with the aforementioned stressors are (a) positive reappraisal, (b) confrontive/adaptive coping, (c) social support, (d) religious coping, (e) beliefs about the efficacy of the interventions, and (f) the use of treatment services led to lower levels stress.

The purpose of this presentation is to provide an in-depth analysis of the effective coping strategies provided by the research. The presentation will begin with a review of the literature in which parents and caregivers will be given information on coping strategies.
The parents and caregivers will be able to (a) identify different stressors, and (b) identify and use coping strategies to help reduce stress levels.