Symptom severity,caregiver stress and intervention helpfulness assessed using ratings from parents caring for a child with autism

Abstract

This exploratory study assessed the relationships between autism spectrum disorder symptoms, caregiver stress and intervention helpfulness, using parent (n = 182) ratings. Advocacy and intervention-related tasks were rated more stressful than support tasks (e.g. toileting, mealtimes), indicating that advocacy is emerging as a major caregiver task for parents. Deficits in prosocial behaviours were perceived to have the highest impact on the child’s function. No difference was found between mean helpfulness ratings across the six representative interventions taken from the New Zealand context. Differences in care-related task stress across intervention choices were better explained by differences in symptom severity, suggesting that impairment drives intervention choice. Limited evidence was uncovered suggesting that intervention helpfulness moderates the relationship between core autism spectrum disorder symptoms and parent stress.