Effect of parental skills-based psychoeducation intervention on parental stress index and severity of children with autism spectrum disorders: A pilot study

Abstract

Objective Analyzing the effect of psychoeducation on parental stress index and the severity of children with autism spectrum disorders. Methods Participants in the study consisted of autism spectrum disorder children and their parents who were divided into 2 groups (treatment = 15 and control group = 20). Participants were given psychoeducation as many as 6 sessions for 14 weeks (7 weeks for each group). Participants were measured for the value of the childhood autism rating scale (CARS) and autism parenting stress index (APSI) pre-post psychoeducation. Results There were significant differences in the treatment group in terms of total CARS values (40.73 ± 7.17 vs −7.67 ± 4.91; p < 0.001), communications (5.60 ± 1.45 vs −4.73 ± 1.49; p = 0.001), social interactions (10.20 ± 2.18 vs 8.93 ± 2.66; p = 0.011), and psychomotor (18.33 ± 3.96 vs 14.27 ± 3.90; p < 0.001) before and after psychoeducation, whereas there were no significant differences in the control group ( p > 0.05). In the treatment group, there were significant differences in total APSI values (17.33 ± 9.99 vs 12.20 ± 4.02; p = 0.001), social difficulties (8.73 ± 4.60 vs 6.00 ± 4.02; p = 0.002), and physical (4.13 ± 3.54 vs 2.27 ± 2.99; p = 0.013) before and after psychoeducation, while there were no significant differences in behavior ( p = 0.443). There were no significant differences in the control group ( p > 0.05). There was a significant influence between psychoeducation on parental stress index ( p = 0.003) and the severity of children with autism spectrum disorders ( p < 0.001). Conclusion There is a decrease in parental stress index and severity of children with autism spectrum disorders after parental psychoeducation intervention.