Effect of Nursing Intervention Program for Parents Caring of Children with Autism Regarding to their Daily Activities

Abstract

Background: Caring for children with Autism spectrum disorder regarding their daily activities is challenging for parents. Aim: This study aimed to assess the effect of nursing intervention program for parents caring of children with autism regarding to their daily activities. Design: A quasi-experimental design used in the present study one group (pre\ posttest). Setting: The study was carried out in Children and Adolescent Psychiatric Outpatient Clinics in Suez Canal University Hospital (SCUH) & Outpatient Clinic for children psychiatric treatment at Abbasia Mental Health Hospital affiliated to General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction in Cairo governorate. Subjects: Study subjects included all available (50) parents have autistic children from the mentioned settings. Tool: A Structured Interview questionnaire included three parts; Part 1: Socio-demographic characteristics of parents, Part 2: Characteristics of the studied children with autism, Part 3: Assessment of parents’ knowledge & Part 4: Assessing the parents’ reported practice regarding to self-reliance during their children daily activities. Results: revealed that more than two thirds, (68%) of parents were mothers. More than two thirds (78%) of father's age was ranged from 30-50 years. More than two thirds (88%) of studied parents’ identification of autism, causes, predictors and symptoms of autism and management of autism post program implementation compared to preprogram Conclusion: there was a statistically significant improvement in total knowledge about autism of the parents caring of children with autism pre and post program implementation. Recommendations: Replication of the same study on larger probability sample at different geographical locations for data generalizability.