Abstract
Caregivers of individuals with ASD can experience various practical, psychological, and social demands and need effective ways of coping to ameliorate the negative effects of caregiving. Numerous coping strategies are available, but the literature shows that caregivers can still struggle to cope, suggesting that interventions to support coping efforts could be beneficial. The MRC framework advocates the systematic development and evaluation of interventions, and this study was conducted to inform the future development of a self-help Positive Reappraisal Coping Intervention (PRCI) for these caregivers. The aim was to establish whether positive reappraisal coping strategies were used and associated with greater psychological wellbeing, prior to developing such an intervention. Method. Caregivers of individuals with ASD (N = 112) responded to items from an existing PRCI (Lancastle, 2006; Lancastle & Boivin, 2008), by writing about aspects of caregiving that reflected the meaning of each item. They also completed questionnaires assessing resilience, caregiving burden, and positive and negative emotions. Results. Participants provided significantly more positive responses than negative responses to PRCI items, demonstrating their use of positive reappraisal coping. Thematic analyses showed that positive responses focused on factors such as their loved one’s personality and achievements, the contributions caregivers had made to this person’s progress, the support received, and their own personal development. Positive reappraisal coping was associated with greater resilience, more positive and less negative emotions, and a lesser sense of caregiver burden. Conclusion. This modelling study suggests that positive reappraisal strategies were used by caregivers and associated with greater psychological wellbeing. The findings will inform the development of a self-help PRCI for the caregivers of those with ASD. Future studies will systematically evaluate that PRCI to determine the nature of intervention effects and mediators and moderators of effects.
Highlights
Caregivers of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience various challenges from caregiving, including greater stress, negative impacts on relationships, financial difficulties, and physical and mental health problems [1,2]
Positive reappraisal coping responses comprised of 13.25 words on average, negative responses averaged 16.43 words and neutral responses contained an average of 3.80 words
There were significantly more frequent examples of positive reappraisal coping than negative responses for every item, and Positive Reappraisal Coping Intervention (PRCI) item Focus on the benefits and not just the difficulties Try to think more about the positive things in my life Try to do something meaningful Learn from the experience See things positively Make the best of the situation Look on the bright side of things Find something good in what is happening Try to do something that makes me feel positive Focus on the positive aspects of the situation χ2 100.52 68.38 68.05 52.20 32.38 41.05 27.23 32.70 59.38 26.80
Summary
Caregivers of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience various challenges from caregiving, including greater stress, negative impacts on relationships, financial difficulties, and physical and mental health problems [1,2]. Caregiving parents report less marriage satisfaction and are around twice as likely to become divorced as parents whose children do not have ASD or who have other disabilities [3]. 60% of mothers of a child who had ASD could not continue with their careers, whilst those who remained employed reported reduced working hours and loss of earnings [4]. Psychological impacts on caregivers include loss of autonomy and control, emotional burden, and stress [2,5]. Caregiver stress is moderated by the severity of ASD symptoms, with more severe symptoms predicting greater stress [6–8], more family problems, and elevated pessimism [6], and by the caregiver’s age. Older adults may feel more competent in their caregiving role because they have been caregiving for longer but can feel less satisfied with the role [9,10], because ageing is associated with a negative impact from caregiving [11,12]
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