Coping strategies and burden levels of primary caregivers of individuals with Autism

Abstract

Problem Statement: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a type of neurodevelopmental disorder. The increasing prevalence and high levels of stress resulting from caring for individuals with ASD raise the issue of caregivers’ burden. Even though research done elsewhere show coping mechanisms affect caregiver burden levels, there is limited research in Ethiopia regarding this topic. Objectives: To determine coping strategies used by primary caregivers of individuals with ASD enrolled in Joy Center and Nehemiah Autism Center and their association with burden levels. Methods: The study was conducted in Joy Center for Autism and Nehemiah Autism Center, using a cross-sectional, quantitative design. After selecting caregivers of autistic individuals by simple random sampling, the brief-COPE questionnaire and the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) questionnaires were administered to primary caregivers. Data was entered using Epi Info v. 7.2.5.0 and analyzed using SPSS v. 20. Multiple linear regression was used to determine association between coping strategies and burden levels. Confidence interval (CI) of 95% was used to measure association and a p-value <0.05 is considered statistically significant. Results: From 94 caregivers of individuals with ASD, 64.9% of the respondents most commonly utilize problem focused coping strategies and largest proportion (33%) had mild to moderate burden levels. Coping strategy mean scores did not significantly affect the burden level of the respondents. However, social support was negatively and very significantly associated with the burden levels, accounting for 0.21% in variance. Conclusion: The majority of primary caregivers employed problem focused coping strategies and had mild to moderate burden levels. No association was found between coping strategies and caregiver burden. However, significant negative association was observed between social support and caregiver burden, which suggests providing social support could decrease caregiver burden levels. Future studies should conduct larger scale researches and explore other influential factors................... Thesis available at Addis Continental Institute of Public Health Library