| dc.description.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. | |
