Hopefulness, internalized stigma, and quality of life among parents of autistic children

An analysis of the link between hopefulness, quality of life (QOL) and internalized stigma among autistic kids' parents is the objective of the current research. Autism impacts the patient as well as their parents, who require wide-ranging support services. The entire family of autism patients gets distressed during its attempts at raising the patient/child, potentially leading to diverse psychological and social problems among family members. Therefore, when catering to special needs kids and developing interventions and initiatives for autism-diagnosed kids, mental healthcare providers and social workers need to consider parental mental health status. Family members who are able to enjoy appropriate levels of societal acceptance and assistance tend to adjust better to challenges encountered in the course of raising autistic kids (Papageorgiou & Kalyva, 2010).

Stigma internalization represents a process wherein patients' family members might exhibit elevated negative emotions, withdrawal from society, negative self-assessment and an attempt to hide their stigmatized standing from other people (Corrigan & Watson, 2003). Certain members of the community may stigmatize, ridicule or accuse autistic kids' parents, even going far enough to directly accuse them of the developmental issues surfacing in their children. Stigmatized individuals undergo greater stress compared to others. In the social work subdomain linked to catering to special needs kids, I have personally witnessed parents being subject to considerable stigma, a malice that increases their stress and adversely impacts their QOL.

While these parents' lives are fraught with excessive stress, scholars who examined resiliency elements discovered that every parent isn't a victim of the above-mentioned harmful impacts. A positive outlook, for instance, reportedly corresponds to a growth in social assistance and welfare of autistic kids' moms (Ekas, Lickenbrock, & Whitman, 2010). Preliminary assessments of hope among parents having kids suffering from autism and other intellectual disorders indicate that hopefulness can prove to be a resilience element linked to lower stress and depression (Kashdan et al., 2002). Negligible or no research exists on the subject of positive and negative aspects of parental expectations of their children's future and the impact it has on parental health. Hence, it is imperative that social workers catering to autistic kids comprehend the impact of parental hope and internalized stigmatization on parental QOL, to improve their lives. The alarming growth of the lifetime ailment known as autism (Baird et al., 2006) calls for an urgent understanding of parental challenges and the determination of adjustment techniques for alleviating their negative impacts.

Social workers may contribute extensively to supporting autistic kids and teens and their family members by ensuring they remain hopeful. This forms the fundamental principle of this research work. Family members of autistic youngsters may find it beneficial if they speak to social workers and attempt to jointly tackle the multiple emotions and pressures of seeing the struggles and behaviors of an autistic family member whilst also attempting to fulfill their personal needs. Social workers may work separately with individual family members, offer couple counseling services for parents, or even family counseling for the entire family. These services may concentrate on numerous areas such as adjusting to the diagnosis, help and support when dealing with concerns, processing feelings relating to diagnosis, or assistance in transition periods. The most salient function of counselors would be inculcating hope in order to improve parental QOL.

The most salient component of this research is its literature search. Literature reviews help researchers gain more knowledge regarding the topic of study. They enable scholars to examine existing information regarding the topic, decide how to differentiate their work from available works (thereby contributing to the literature pool on the subject), and develop a conceptual framework and research design. The latter may also be achieved based on existing literature that serves to guide scholars with regard to sound research performance strategies. For instance, literature on the topic at hand may help instruct the research scholar regarding the research design (qualitative or quantitative or) that will prove most appropriate when it comes to examining gaps in available literature on the subject.

An effective literature search for the purpose of this study will entail consulting every resource accessible. The formal steps to conduct a systematic review of literature (Cronin, Ryan, & Coughlan, 2008) on one's research topic are as follows:

• Choosing a topic for review
• Conducting a literature search
• Collecting, reading and analyzing literature
• Writing down the review
• Referencing

Therefore, subsequent to choosing one's topic, the next step would be to peruse internet databases, books, journal articles, government publications, etc. In the current digital age, a successful, quality literature search is usually conducted with the aid of electronic and computer databases which provide access to huge amounts of swiftly- and easily- retrievable information. Several electronic databases exist; of these, a large number handle specific information areas.

I can also attempt to learn more about my subject of interest by meeting with specialists in the field, talking to coworkers, attending seminars and conferences, and visiting professional organizations. The review of literature must be comprehensive so as to facilitate the identification of gaps in the literature that may facilitate in the framing of this research. By continued refining of research, my work will become increasingly specialized and focused. Lastly, I will need to provide a summary of the literature to form an inclusive picture of literature on the subject.

There are certainly other major sources as well, which must be looked into before embarking on this research project. Indeed, informal discussions with individuals who are already knowledgeable on literature on my study topic may prove to be very valuable, as these individuals can offer pointers pertaining to how I am to move forward with my search. Thus, informal interviews of organizations that work with autistic kids, special educators, psychologists, autistic kids' parents, and other associated social welfare organizations will prove to be a vital source. Additionally, numerous governmental departments may have comprehensive websites that include valuable links and content (such as policy documents and media statements) pertaining to my research question. I may also benefit from seeking a librarian's assistance in acquiring national as well as international resources and literature. My extended study must aim at achieving a very detailed literature review to ensure it enlightens me regarding all facets of my research topic (Alston & Bowles, 2003).

Alston, M., & Bowles, W. (2003). Research for social workers: An introduction to methods. Psychology Press.

Baird, G., Simonoff, E., Pickles, A., Chandler, S., Loucas, T., Meldrum, D., & Charman, T. (2006). Prevalence of disorders of the autism spectrum in a population cohort of children in South Thames: the Special Needs and Autism Project (SNAP). The Lancet, 368(9531), 210-215. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(06)69041-7

Cronin, P., Ryan, F., & Coughlan, M. (2008). Undertaking a literature review: a step-by-step approach. British journal of nursing, 17(1), 38.

Corrigan, P., & Watson, A. (2002). The Paradox of Self-Stigma and Mental Illness. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 9(1), 35-53. doi:10.1093/clipsy.9.1.35.

Ekas, N., Whitman, T., & Shivers, C. (2008).Religiosity, Spirituality, and Socioemotional Functioning in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism DevDisord, 39(5), 706-719. doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0673-4

Kashdan, T., Pelham, W., Lang, A., Hoza, B., Jacob, R., & Jennings, J. et al. (2002). Hope and Optimism as Human Strengths in Parents of Children with Externalizing Disorders: Stress is in the Eye of the Beholder. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 21(4), 441-468. doi:10.1521/jscp.21.4.441.22597

Papageorgiou, V., & Kalyva, E. (2010). Self-reported needs and expectations of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders who participate in support groups. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 4(4), 653-660. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ886537

An analysis of the link between hopefulness, quality of life (QOL) and internalized stigma among autistic kids' parents is the objective of the current research. All of the articles described below are peer-reviewed, searched on Psychinfo, Wiley library, sciencedirect and other high-quality internet databases that provide access to numerous books and journal articles. The main search terms utilized were 'stigma', 'autism' 'internalized stigma', 'quality of life', 'parents of autistic children', 'caregivers' and 'hopefulness'.

Dardas, L. A., & Ahmad, M. M. (2014). Quality of life among parents of children with autistic disorder: A sample from the Arab world. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 35(2), 278-287.doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2013.10.029

Ahmad and Dardas's (2014) research paper looks into the challenges linked to QOL of autistic kids' parents; thus, it will contribute significantly to guiding the present research. The authors aimed at studying the differences in QOL between autistic kids' mothers and fathers, in addition to psychosocial QOL correlates among autistic kids' parents in the Arab world. No significant variance in physical, social, environmental and mental wellbeing was revealed between mothers and fathers of autistic kids. Moreover, similar linkages between QOL and parental coping approaches, demographic traits and stress were exhibited by both parents. Therefore, this research paper indicates that the QOL of autistic kids' parents depends on their coping approaches, demographic traits and stress levels, as well as, to a certain degree, their culture. But some methodological problems need to be taken into account during the interpretation of research outcomes, including non-verification of autism diagnosis and absence of a control/comparison group.

Faso, D., Neal-Beevers, A., & Carlson, C. (2013).Vicarious futurity, hope, and well-being in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(2), 288-297. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2012.08.014

This research work explored the link between vicarious futurity and hope, together with how the two predicted wellbeing among autistic kids' parents. Outcomes suggested that irrespective of the severity of autism symptoms displayed by the child, vicarious futurity was a powerful predictor of parental stress; hope was a predictor depression related symptoms; and vicarious futurity as well as hope were predictors of parental satisfaction with life. This study drives the present research's rationale, addressing the amount of general hopefulness that is vital and beneficial to parental health. It suggests that life satisfaction increases and parental stress decreases, among autistic kids' parents, through vicarious hope. But the research sample failed to include individuals from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Further researches need to take this into account.

Gray, D. (1993). Perceptions of stigma: the parents of autistic children. Social Health & Illness, 15(1), 102-120. doi:10.1111/1467-9566.ep11343802

Gray's work was in the form of a qualitative research for studying stigma among autistic kids' parents. Autism was revealed to be connected with unique stigmatizing factors. This leads to most parents of autistic kids considering themselves stigmatized by the society, owing to their child's ailment. Further, parents of kids aged below 12 years and having a severer disability showed, to some extent, greater likelihood of perceiving themselves as stigmatized. This paper offers empirical grounds that severely disabled kids' parents will more likely consider themselves stigmatized. But study subjects were limited in number, thereby potentially impacting result generalizability.

Kuhlthau, K., Payakachat, N., Delahaye, J., Hurson, J., Pyne, J. M., Kovacs, E., &Tilford, J. M. (2014). Quality of life for parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8(10), 1339-1350. doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2014.07.002

This paper's basis is a research venture which employs mixed methods to inform readers and interested parties regarding health-related QOL of autistic kids' parents.