Stress, Anxiety and Depression in the Fathers of Children with Autism
There have been countless studies that focus on Mother’s of children with Autism, or even Parents of Autistic Children.
I remember reading a story where one study of mothers reflected that the amount of stress they endure is akin to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – at a level similar to a soldier returning from war.
Unlike a soldier and with the battle’s being over – with Autism at times it may feel as though the war would never be over….
We love our children, and we continue to figure out what is the best way to provide for them to live independently – or at least at a level to where we know they will be ok once we pass on.
One thing I haven’t seen are studies done regarding the Father’s of children with Autism.
Until now….
I was contacted through our friends at the Autism Society to see if I can help a gentleman in Australia who is doing a study about “Stress, Anxiety and Depression in the Fathers of Children with Autism”.
This study’s sole focus are on the Dad’s, to see what type of support services are available for them.
A similar study was done for Mother’s, and they had about 200 people who participated. To make sure that they compare apple’s to apple’s – they want at least as many Father’s to participate.
Currently they have about 150 or so who’ve taken this online survey.
So, I said that I would help as much as I could and pass this information along.
That being said:
If you’re a father of a child with Autism, or know someone, please take this survey.
https://surveys.psychol.utas.edu.au/index.php?sid=25758&lang=en
Thanks.
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Great to see that this research is being done. I’m doing a similar study, except looking specifically at stress and ways of coping with stress. Instead of doing two separate studies for mothers and fathers, I am trying to recruit both populations for my study and then am planning on doing an analysis comparing the two after all my data is collected. Sadly, I guess not splitting up the study has backfired because fathers have not been taking my survey. Although, I have been attempting to recruit fathers through father-specific organizations (sadly, this hasn’t been working…) I would love for any fathers on here to please participate in my study as well!
All parents have unique stresses as the result of raising children, but what is being done to help parents cope?
My name is Crystal Lee, and I am a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Baylor University. For my dissertation I am studying stress and ways of coping with stress in parents. My hope is to use the data from my dissertation to create an effective way to help parents cope with stress.
I am looking for parents of children ages 5-12 with an Autism Spectrum Disorder
If you meet the above criteria, please take this anonymous and confidential survey, which takes 30-45 minutes to complete: https://baylor.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0GJF7ldjuBwBWEk
If you do not meet the above criteria, please consider forwarding the survey to any parents you know that fit the above criteria.
People who complete the survey can participate in a drawing for one of three $50 giftcards to Amazon.com. Additionally, people who refer others to the survey get their name added into the drawing for each person they refer.
If you have any questions regarding the study, you may contact me at [email protected]
Thank you for your time and help,
Crystal Lee, M.S.
Doctoral Student
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Baylor University
When Nick was younger, if there were support groups we were not aware of them. We pretty much did hands on, and with reading and trial and error Nickolas thrived. It would have been great to have this type of support early on, but I wouldn’t trade nothing we had gone through. Nick is a beautiful young man. Great post, Joel.
Joel,
Thank you for all that you do in the autism community. I feel it is an honor and a privilege to have my blogs posted and read on Autisable and on other on-line sites. May you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Amalia
@amaliastarr – Thanks Amalia. Good to hear you are doing workshops as well. It’s good to know that there are places where Dad’s can be encouraged.
Joel,
This is a very important study. Finally we are paying attention to the dads. My husband died at the early age of 48. He was still in denial even after seeing his son, Brandon fall to the ground having many Grand Mal seizures. Denial runs very deep. I have been conducting a workshop for dads only. I have found it to be extremely helpful. In one workshop a father stood up and said, “We want to fix everything even our children.” I said, “I understand, but our children are not broken.” As mothers, we want to help, nurture, support our children so they can do better. We just come from different mindsets. Please let me know If I can be of service with this study in any way.
Thank you for highlighting this. I will pass on this message to my friends and their friends. Hopefully more people will come forward to bring more awareness on autism and support this cause.