Verified Document

Study On Parents With Autistic Children Essay

Related Topics:

Autism is a problem with significant negative impacts on affected children and their parents/families who require wide-ranging support services for their children. For family members, the condition generates distress when raising the affected child due to the psychological and social problems it creates. Therefore, the consideration of parental mental health is an important aspect for social workers and mental healthcare providers when attending to these special needs' kids and creating interventions for children diagnosed with autism. In this regard, the research problem to be examined in this study is the link between hopefulness, quality of life (QOF) and internalized stigma for parents with autistic children.

Plan for Identifying Research Question and Sub-questions



The plan for identifying the research question and relevant sub-questions in this study involves utilizing the PICO format. First, the researcher identified the population or problem of interest i.e. parents with children suffering from autism. This was followed by determining the specific component of the subjective i.e. intervention or diagnosis. For this study, the intervention relating to the population of interest is stigma internalization and how its associated with quality of life and hopefulness. The third step in identifying the research question is determining the control or comparator, which in this case is the link between quality of life and stigma internalization among this population. The final step is the outcome, which entails determining how these two variables are linked and the need for consideration of parents and families when designing interventions for children suffering from autism. Notably, the PICO approach was preceded by identifying the research problem.

Synthesis of Information



Researchers have carried out several studies that address the various issues relating to the link between stigma internationalization and hopefulness and quality of life among parents with autistic children. Corrigan & Watson (2003) defined stigma internalization as 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. These researchers...
While Ekas, Lickenbrock, & Whitman (2010) concur that stress brought by stigmatization can negatively affect an individual's quality of life, they contend that not all parents experience the negative impacts of stigmatization. However, stigmatized individuals can lessen the impacts of stigmatization through receiving social assistance and welfare. Papageorgiou & Kalyva (2010) suggests that parents' participation is support groups that provide social assistance and welfare is driven by specific needs though few studies have examined their intentions for doing so. These researchers found that the self-reported needs and expectations of parents with autistic children differ and should be taken into consideration when creating such groups in order to help improve outcomes.
According to Kashdan et al. (2002), parents with autistic children tend to suffer from stress and depression, which affects their hopefulness and quality of life, which are regarded as resilient factors or components for dealing with stigma. However, there is limited research on the positive and negative effects of parental expectations of the future of their autistic children and its effect on parental health and well-being. In light of the existed of relatively limited literature on this issue, Baird et al. (2006) argue that its important for social workers catering for autistic children to understand the impact of parental hope and internalized stigmatization on parental QOL. Since autism is a lifetime ailment, an understanding of parental challenges and the determination of adjustment techniques for alleviating their negative impacts is urgent and necessary to help improve their lives.

The identified studies will make significant contributions to this research through providing insights on the different issues relating to the research problem. First, these studies promote an understanding of stigma internalization among the population of interest and the various challenges they experience. Secondly, these studies help in determining the role of support groups that provide social assistance and welfare in improving hopefulness and quality of life amidst the stigmatization experienced by…

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Autistic Children and the Effect
Words: 2503 Length: 8 Document Type: Thesis

1) Connor (2002) states that studies report findings that mothers of children with Autism "who showed greater satisfaction" in life were those "who made the clearest redefinitions and who were most willing to follow alternative ways of gaining self-fulfillment." (p. 1) II. EFFECTS on LIFE of FAMILY in NORMAL ACTIVITIES In the work entitled: 'Autism and the Family" reported is a study conducted in a 12th grade classroom at 'Our Lady of

Study of Autism Disorder
Words: 1077 Length: 4 Document Type: Case Study

Autism Spectrum Disorder Ben Johnson Age -- Gender -- Male Ben is currently being raised by a single mother who has two additional children. The mother has worked full time for a number of years while the biological father is absent and rarely offers support or sees his children. The mother currently reports high levels of stress that are in part due to Ben's ASD symptoms and his behavior at home. These symptoms include

Parents Whose Child Has Recently Been Diagnosed
Words: 1286 Length: 3 Document Type: Research Proposal

Parents Whose Child Has Recently Been Diagnosed With a Disability Bearing that whenever there is a disability detected within the family, the entire family gets affected, there is need to find out to what extent and how the family members share in the pain and disability of one of them. Disabilities can be from the time of birth or can emerge as the child grows up from accidents or developed

Autistic Spectrum Disorders and the Family Unit
Words: 4350 Length: 15 Document Type: Term Paper

Autistic Spectrum Disorders and the Family Unit Autistic Spectrum Disorders are a group of related disorders or developmental disabilities that have been caused by some sort of problem within the brain. The necessity to understand the reasons for autism and the basic underlying pathophysiology has become more severe because the amount of diagnosed cases has increased dramatically in recent years. (White, 2003) Researchers and scientists have not been able to discover,

How to Communicate With an Autistic Child
Words: 2698 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

Autism is one of the most severe and disruptive of all childhood disorders - a level of disruption that of course lasts well into adulthood. With both genetic and environmental elements at work, autism (which affects boys at least three times more often than girls and is found in all races and throughout the world) is a communicative disorder that interferes with an individual's ability to form social relationships as

Stress Impact an Autistic Child
Words: 1492 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

One study examined the impact that spiritual or religious faith had on families with autistic children. In this study 49 families of autistic children were examined for signs of stress either psychologically, emotionally or health wise. The study looked at participants who had autistic children between the ages of 4 and 20 years old. The study concluded that parents who have a strong religious or spiritual faith and support from

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now