A Study to assess the problems faced and lifestyle modifications adopted by parents of children with autism attending selected child rehabilitation centres of Mumbai

Binal Patel

Assistant Professor, Ganpat University, Institute of Nursing.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: binalpatelumedpura@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

Background: Prevalence of autism is increasing worldwide. A WHO survey conducted in, April,2017, states that the incidence of autism has increased from 1 in 500 to 1 in 160 children. As there is no known cure for autism, it is considered to be a lifelong condition. Objectives: 1. To assess the problems faced and lifestyle modification adopted by parents in the following aspects: Physical, Emotional, Social, Professional 2. To determine the relationship between problems faced and lifestyle modification with selected demographic variables. Materials and methods: The data were collected from 43 parents of children with an autism by using non-probability, purposive sampling technique, tool was semi-structured interview schedule and rating scale, technique was interviewing. Result: Coefficient of correlation for Overall problems faced and Overall lifestyle modification adopted by parents with autistic children was -0.0696, it shows no relationship between them. Conclusion: From the findings of the study, we can conclude that parents of an autistic child face problems in the physical, emotional, social and professional spheres of life. Problems related to the social domain exceed than the other three. It is interpreted that parents also adopt lifestyle changes in response to the problems faced in all these aspects of life. However, it was found that the lifestyle modifications adopted by the parents in response to the physical problem were comparatively low.

KEYWORDS: Assess, Problem faced, Lifestyle modification, Autism.

INTRODUCTION:

“Autism doesn’t come with a manual. It comes with a parent who never gives up.”

Prevalence of autism is increasing worldwide. A WHO survey conducted in, April, 2017, states that the incidence of autism has increased from 1 in 500 to 1 in 160 children. As there is no known cure for autism, it is considered to be a lifelong condition.

Having a child with a disability will more likely disrupt a mother's relationship with relatives, friends, school personnel, and health-care representatives than it will disrupt a father's job.

Still others theorize that there are many stressors that impact women more often than men, including sexual victimization, poverty, single parenthood, and the burden of caring for the elderly, which may account for some of the differences.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

A study to assess the problems faced and lifestyle modifications adopted by parents of children with autism attending selected child rehabilitation centres of Mumbai.

AIM:

Aim of this study was to assess the problems faced and lifestyle modifications adopted by parents of children with autism attending selected child rehabilitation centres of Mumbai.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To assess the problems faced and lifestyle modification adopted by parents in the following aspects: Physical, Emotional, Social, Professional.

2. To determine the relationship between problems faced and lifestyle modification with selected demographic variables.

METHODOLOGY:

The non-experimental research design was used. The research approach is quantitative exploratory descriptive approach, A non-experimental survey study consisting of 43 parents of children with autism were interviewed by using semi structured interviewing technique, semi-structured questionnaire and the rating scale were used to assess the problems faced and the lifestyle modification by parents, Data collection done after obtaining permission from authority, Prepared tool was validated by different experts.

RESULT:

84 percent of the samples were mothers and 74 percent were homemaker, 68 percent belonged to the age group of 31-40 years, 65 percent children diagnosed with autism were the first child of their parents

70 percent children were male child, 91 percent of children were diagnosed with autism during 1 to 4 years of age, Family history of autism was found in 81 percent of children.

The overall value of ‘r’ suggests that there was no relationship between the problems faced and the lifestyle modification adopted by parents having an autistic child. However, analysis showed negligible positive relationship in social and professional aspects and a low positive relationship in the emotional aspect.

The association of problems faced by parents and the demographic variables such as education of parents, age of parents, type of family, number of children, type of delivery and gender of child was analysed. The calculated value of ‘t’ for every variable was found to be less than the table value of ‘t’ at 0.05 level of significance. Thus, it can be concluded that there is no significance difference between the mean score of education of parents, age of parents, type of family, number of children, type of delivery, and gender of child with regard to problem faced by parents.

The association of lifestyle modification by parents and the demographic variables such as education of parents, age of parents, type of family, number of children, type of delivery, gender of child was analysed. The calculated value of ‘t’ for every variable was found to be less than the table value of ‘t’ at 0.05 level of significance. Thus, it can be concluded that there is no significance difference between the mean score of education of parents, age of parents, type of family, number of children, type of delivery, gender of child with regard to lifestyle modification adopted by parents.

CONCLUSION:

Thus, from the findings of the study, we can conclude that parents of an autistic child face problems in the physical, emotional, social and professional spheres of life. Problems related to the social domain exceed than the other three. It is interpreted that parents also adopt lifestyle changes in response to the problems faced in all these aspects of life. However, it was found that the lifestyle modifications adopted by the parents in response to the physical problem were comparatively low.

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Received on 14.05.2022 Modified on 17.06.2022

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2022; 10(3):223-224.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2660.2022.00052