Home Forums Autism Research Are you a Mum raising a child with high functioning autism or asperger’s? Re: Re: Are you a Mum raising a child with high functioning autism or asperger’s?

Anonymous
Inactive
Post count: 8

Hello everyone!I wanted to write to you all to let you know the initial results of this study before I go on maternity leave. The questionnaires looked at stress, coping and quality of life (health and mental health). I also asked questions around your circumstances, for example, marital status, length of time seeking a diagnosis and working status to see if they influenced the other questionnaires.I was surprised to find significant results in quite a number of subscales in the questionnaires between those mums who have a diagnosis and those who are still seeking a diagnosis. The personal circumstances did not seem to have an effect on the differences between both groups.Mums who were seeking a diagnosis had significantly higher Parental Distress and overall Stress levels than those who had a diagnosis. They also scored their child’s behaviours as more difficult to handle than those mums whose children had a diagnosis.Mums scored significantly much higher in the mental health component of the quality of life questionnaire meaning they were more prone to depression and stress. Mums who had a diagnosis were more likely to use social support as a coping strategy.Overall 84 people filled in the questionnaires so I have had a fantastic response with meaningful results. Unfortunately I have not been able to process the interviews yet but will be doing this when I get back to this research. I will be taking a couple of months off for maternity leave but when I return to this work I will be aiming to publish these findings. I will keep you all posted. I will still be checking in on my emails from time to time so feel free to email me if you would like more information or have any questions. My email address is ashlee2.mulimba@uwe.ac.uk. Thank you all so much for your help and support. Best wishesAshlee