Parenting Stress in Families of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Roles of the Extended Family

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study focused on the role of extended family in mitigating the stress experienced by parents of children with autism and the possible challenges of involving them, especially in modern Nigerian society. The study identified the sources of stress for parents of children with autism, and considered location and family size factors in stress experienced by parents, the role of the extended family in mitigating the stress and the challenges that may inhibit the involvement of the extended family.  
 
 METHOD: The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and was carried out in South East, Nigeria. All parents and guardians of children with autism in the three special needs schools that cater for children with autism in the two selected states were used for the study. Data was collected using a self-report questionnaire with 36 items to elicit information on the sources of stress for parents and the role of the extended family in mitigating the stress. A semi-structured 26 items interview schedule adapted from Smithfield’s (2011) parents of children with autism questions covering the child's behaviour, parent's feelings, and role of the extended family was also used to generate firsthand information on the issues raised and to complement data collected through the self-report questionnaire. There was a researcher observation guide for monitoring progress in the study. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions while regression analysis, t-test and Analysis of variance were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. 
 
 RESULTS: The findings revealed that parents of children with autism experience stress that is hinged basically on the behaviour of the children. Family size does not influence parents’ stress experience but location does.  Some parents receive child care and/or financial help sometimes from extended family members.
 
 CONCLUSION: Parents of children with autism face a lot of stress that is hinged basically on the behaviour of the children. Some of the rural parents, however, have the opportunity of getting help sometimes from extended family members since special need schools are not located in their area or even nearby. The extended family relations sometimes offer financial help but from all indications, the modern urbanization has really eroded their help. Family size does not influence parents’ stress experience and role of extended family but location does.

The Role of the Family Network When Raising a Child with a Disability in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

“…The African parenting adage often goes "it takes a village to raise a child", and this proverb continues to hold wisdom in modern day parenting. Due to the intensive nature of parenting, which refers to the strenuous process of raising another human being into independence and adulthood [1], parents and caregivers tend to create networks with the extended family [2][3][4][5], educators [6], and healthcare professionals [7], among other individuals and communities to ensure their child's holistic development. The interaction between various stakeholders in child development is succinctly captured by Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, which posits a nested structure of micro-and macro-systems in influencing child development [8].…”

Internet-Based versus Center-Based Intervention Training for Parents of Young Children with Post-Digital Nanning Autism Syndrome (PDNAS): A Comparative Study

“…It is suggested that parents as primary caregivers can be considered the initial experts on their children, spending more time with them than almost any other adult the child encounters in their day-to-day lifetime (Bordelon & Bradley, 2019). Although, it is important to note that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder symptoms themselves may need to interventions because of the high stress they experience (Anyanwu et al, 2019;Davis & Carter, 2008;Gong et al, 2015;McStay, Dissanayake, Scheeren, Koot, & Begeer, 2014;Pottie, Cohen, & Ingram, 2009;Soltanifar et al, 2015) and involving these parents in interventions for their children can reduce their stress and enhance their mental health (Catalano, Holloway, & Mpofu, 2018;Estes et al, 2014). As described earlier, previous studies have revealed that parent training is the most effective approach to the reduce children's screen-time and make communicative lifestyle (Adams et al, 2018;Özyurt et al, 2018;Sadeghi et al, 2019aSadeghi et al, , 2019bSadeghi et al, , 2019c, only a small proportion of families benefit from evidence-based interventions (Jensen et al, 2011).…”