Análise do estresse em pais/cuidadores de crianças com autismo

Abstract

Stress is a natural physiological response to adverse agents, however, if maintained for long periods, it can lead to diseases and disorders. There is evidence that fathers / mothers of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have higher levels of chronic stress than parents of children with other diseases or with typical development. Understanding these relationships favors the construction of resources and assertive techniques that foster a better quality of life and health promotion for parents and caregivers, as well as improvements in care for these children. The present study aimed to analyze the relationship between perceived stress, psychiatric symptoms and coping strategies in parents / mothers who care for children with ASD and parents / mothers who care for healthy children and adolescents. For this, semi-structured anamnesis interviews and the Perceived Stress Scales, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used in parents caring for children and adolescents treated at the Borges da Costa da Hospital outpatient clinic. Federal University of Minas Gerais. The sample consisted of 51 parents of autistic children and 26 control parents, making a total of 77 respondents. The data were treated with the Shapiro-Wilk, Chi-Square, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis tests. The correlation analysis was performed using Spearman's coefficient. The results of the comparison of the scales did not show differences in the perceived stress between the groups (P = 0.244). For the anxiety (P = 0.20) and depression (P = 0.00) scales, group 1 (ASD) showed higher scores, that is, worse results from the clinical point of view, as they tend to manifest symptoms anxious and / or depressive patients more severe than those in the control group. The analysis of the association between stress and psychiatric symptoms resulted in a positive and significant correlation between stress and anxiety (P = 0.046, rho = 0.228). The same happened in the relationship between depression and anxiety (P = 0.001, rho = 0.697). However, there was no significant correlation between depression and stress. It was concluded, therefore, that parents of autistic children have more depressive and anxious symptoms than parents of healthy children, this difference was not verified in relation to stress.