Naicker Vrinda V, Hedley Darren, Bury Simon M
Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2024 Sep 4;15:1443707. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1443707. eCollection 2024.
Resolution of a child's diagnosis, the process of accepting and adjusting to the reality of a child's significant diagnosis, has been often associated with decreased parental stress. Hope, a potential buffer against psychological distress, has been suggested as a potential explanation for this relationship. However, the mediating role of hope in the relationship between resolution of diagnosis and parental stress has not been explored.
This study aimed to examine whether four types of hope (child, parental, societal, denial of diagnosis) mediated the relationship between resolution to an autism diagnosis and reduced parental stress. Participants included 73 parents ( 43.22, = 7.69, female 97.3%) of autistic children ( = 11.15, = 4.56, male = 67.1%).
Resolution to diagnosis was negatively and significantly correlated with resolution to diagnosis, as well as child, parental and societal hope. These three hopes were also significantly and negatively correlated with parental stress. Importantly, when controlling for level of support and autism awareness, parental hope mediated the relationship between resolution to diagnosis and parental stress. Denial of diagnosis was not correlated with resolution or parental stress but did have significant but weak associate with the other hopes.
These findings suggest that hope based on parent's abilities to support their child and be supported themselves play an important role in parental stress once parents are more resolved to their child's diagnosis. Supporting parents to manage factors associated with supporting their child's needs, may benefit parents of autistic children.
孩子确诊后的心理调适，即接受并适应孩子重大疾病诊断现实的过程，通常与父母压力的减轻相关。希望作为抵御心理困扰的潜在缓冲因素，被认为是这种关系的一种潜在解释。然而，希望在诊断结果与父母压力之间关系中的中介作用尚未得到探讨。
本研究旨在检验四种类型的希望（孩子的希望、父母的希望、社会的希望、对诊断的否认）是否在自闭症诊断结果与父母压力减轻之间的关系中起中介作用。参与者包括73名自闭症儿童的父母（平均年龄43.22岁，标准差 = 7.69，97.3%为女性），其孩子平均年龄为11.15岁（标准差 = 4.56，67.1%为男性）。
诊断结果与诊断结果、孩子的希望、父母的希望和社会的希望呈显著负相关。这三种希望也与父母压力呈显著负相关。重要的是，在控制支持水平和自闭症认知度后，父母的希望在诊断结果与父母压力之间的关系中起中介作用。对诊断的否认与诊断结果或父母压力无关，但与其他希望有显著但较弱的关联。
这些发现表明，一旦父母对孩子的诊断更加释怀，基于父母支持孩子及自身获得支持能力的希望在减轻父母压力方面发挥着重要作用。支持父母应对与满足孩子需求相关的因素，可能会使自闭症儿童的父母受益
