Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Communication and Mental Health

Abstract

Persons with autism need special care during all life and therefore the caretakers need attention too. Parental stress in families with children with autism is significantly higher than the observed in families with children with other disorders or with typical development. Communication is specially affected in autism, is one of parent's first concerns and may increase stress. This study asked if parents of non-verbal children with autism have higher levels of stress than parents of verbal children with autism. The purpose of this study was to assess the stress levels of parents of children with autism and to verify its association with the inability of verbal communication and the relationship to quality of life. Participants were parents of 75 children with autism and 100 parents with no complaints about their children development. They were divided in 3 groups. All participants responded to questionnaires regarding: socio-demographic date, stress level and quality of life. Most parents presented medium level of stress. Presence of speech did not yield to significant differences. More parents of children with autism reported high levels of stress. Associations between the stress level and the quality of life were also observed. It can be concluded that the stress level of parents of children with autism not influenced by their lack of verbal communication.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.