Mapping impact of psycho-education programme on psychological well-being of parents with an autistic child

Abstract

Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder that first appears after two years and generally follows a steady course without any diminution. Autism falls under the category of pervasive developmental disorder. The characteristics of autism are the main cause of stress for parents and make it difficult to deal with the situation effectively and efficiently. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the impact of psycho-educational programme on the psychological well-being of parents with an autistic child. Present study is a mixed method study with a total of 76 parents were selected and assessed on two measures namely: Parental Stress Scale by Berry and Jones (2013) and Psychological Well-being Scale by Diener (2009). A psycho-education programme was implemented for a period of four months wherein, a brief introduction was given to the parents about autism, teaching aids were developed and real life problems were also discussed in detail. The results of the study shows that the stress level was significantly high (M=43.7) among parents and showed serious discomfort (M=14.8) on the scores of psychological well-being before intervention. The scores were seen to improve significantly after the intervention where high stress level dropped down (M= 34.4) and parents reported moderate malaise (M=35.7) on the scores of psychological well-being. Present study can be helpful for counselors, special educators as it becomes easy for them to help parents to overcome problems they are facing.