Study on Parents with Autistic Children

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.

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.

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 argue that stigmatized individuals undergo greater stress compared to others, which negatively impacts their quality of life. 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 parents with autistic children. Third, the studies help in identifying existing gaps in literature, which help in framing the research objectives and processes to fill this gap.

The potential research participants for this study are the parents with autistic children, parents without autistic children, children suffering from autism, and specialists. Autistic children will act as dormant participants and will observed to identify their needs and learn how they are different from other children. Parents autistic children and those without autistic children will be active participants and will directly be interviewed and subjected to stress tests to see the differences in their stress levels. This mix of parents in the research will help in giving a comparative analysis hence objectivity of the research on the topic. Specialists will predominantly be interviewed on their view and professional input on the role of hopefulness on the QOL of the parents with autistic children and how this can be achieved.

The primary methods of data collection will be observations and interviews as well as video and audio recording, which will be carried out on different participants. Observations will be conducted on children and recorded on a pre-populated checklist that will be issued to them. The researcher will conduct structured interviews of the specialists while data from parents and the community members will be obtained through video and audio recording. The information from these recordings will then be transcribed into meaningful data for the research process while questionnaires are also used to obtain data from institutions that deal with autistic children. For data analysis, the researcher will utilize multivariate analysis approach through which the relationship among several factors and how these end up in instilling hope and improving QOL or otherwise will be evaluated. Microsoft Excel will be utilized to help in tabulation of results from the various interviews that will be conducted among the participants.

The results of the study will be presented to psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and the agencies/organizations that deal with the handling of autistic children. These are the people who can go to the ground and implement the recommendations of the research and make the lives of the autistic children's parents better and hopeful. Being that the report will be a result of a formal research conducted, the relevant accreditation bodies will be informed before the information is formally shared in form of printed material with the above mentioned recipients and will also be available in soft copy for the individuals who might be interested.

The proposed study is essential towards promoting the quality of life and expectations of parents with autistic children given that autism is considered as a lifetime illness with significant negative impacts on patients and their families. This is an important issue of study given that some of these parents are subjected to stigmatization, which increases their levels of stress while lessening their expectations or hopes for the future of their children. Therefore, this proposed study will help in enhancing how such parents can utilize social support groups and assistance to enhance their expectations and hopefulness, which enhances the quality of life while lessening stress. The study essentially addresses some of the unprecedented challenges that parents with autistic children undergo and how these challenges affect their lives given that they are affected by factors other than the disease itself. In light of the existing gaps in literature, future studies should examine the positive and negative aspects of parental expectations of their autistic children's future and its impact on parental health and wellbeing. Secondly, future studies should evaluate how stigmatization and its negative effects can be prevented in order to enhance the quality of lives of parents with autistic children. Finally, future studies should also examine the necessary support programs and services that help this population deal with stigmatization in a manner that lessens stress, enhances hopefulness, and improves quality of life.