No abstract

No abstract

Worldwide, caregivers find caring for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) challenging. Family members must manage many aspects of care giving, which is demanding, overwhelming, and can affect the family members' mental health. However learning how to be resilient may help family members overcome the stress and burden associated with caring for a person with ASD. A search was completed in Medline, PsycINFO, Proquest, Web of Science, and CINAHL using the key words "autism," "caregivers," "mothers," and "fathers," alone and in combination. Inclusion criteria were English language articles reporting studies with samples of children with ASD, as distinct from children with other intellectual or developmental disabilities. Fifty-eight articles that met these inclusion criteria were summarized and, from those, the authors selected 22 articles that included indicators of resilience. This integrative review highlights current research on resilience in adult family members of persons with ASD. Indicators of resilience, risk factors, protective factors, and outcomes of resilience were identified. The review indicates that parents of children with ASD who possess indicators of resilience are better able to manage the adversity associated with caring for children with ASD. Thus, enhancing resilience among family members of persons with autism may be beneficial to both the caregivers and care recipients.

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is 1 in 110 persons in the U.S. Both parents of children with ASD are under stress that may impact their health-related quality of life (HRQL) (physical and mental health). The purpose of the current study was to explore the relationship of parenting stress, support from family functioning and the HRQL (physical and mental health) of both parents. Female (n = 64) and male (n = 64) parents of children with ASD completed Web-based surveys examining parenting stress, family functioning, and physical and mental health. Results of a Wilcoxon signed-ranks test showed that female parent discrepant (D) scores between "what is" and "should be" family functioning were significantly larger than male parents, p = .002. Results of stepwise linear regression for the male-female partners showed that (1) higher female caregiving stress was related to lower female physical health (p < .001), (2) a higher discrepancy score in family functioning predicted lower mental health (p < .001), accounting for 31% of the variance for females and (3) male parent personal and family life stress (p < .001) and family functioning discrepant (D) score (p < .001) predicted poor mental health, with the discrepancy score accounting for 35% of the variance. These findings suggest that there may be differences in mothers' and fathers' perceptions and expectations about family functioning and this difference needs to be explored and applied when working with families of children with ASD.

The results support resilience theory and suggest a need for developing interventions to strengthen positive thinking among caregivers of persons with ASD.

HCP and parent collaboration could lead to strategies to increase supports for children with autism spectrum disorder in the hospital to decrease their frustration and challenging behaviors.

The transition from hospital to home and complex chronic condition care is challenging and changes over time. Nurses are called upon to prepare parents to become knowledgeable and confident to care for the child after hospital discharge. Nurses can best support families in transition after SOT by anticipating and understanding their dynamic challenging complex care needs.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has an estimated prevalence of greater than 1% of people in the U.S. Caring for children with ASD is stressful and challenging for parents. The purpose of the study is to understand the ramifications of the findings of a spouse/father's lack of participation for a study focused on stress and family functioning that attempted to recruit both parents of a child with ASD. The Kruskal-Wallis test compared medians of three groups of mothers of children with ASD in order to assess differences in parenting stress and family functioning discrepancy depending on their marital status and spouse survey participation. There were differences across the groups of mothers of children with ASD for the discrepancy in expectations for help, from the participants' spouse or relatives, with family tasks, meeting the demands of other work responsibilities, child care, challenging behaviors, and school absences. Mothers of children with ASD are at risk for isolation and stress from negotiating family functions with the fathers of the children. Health care providers can assess for stress and family functioning and may anticipate different needs based on marital status and by father's involvement in decision-making.