1.Parental Stress and Coping Attitudes in Autism Spectrum Disorder Children: A Survey during Movement Control Order period amid COVID-19 Pandemic
Muhamad Azamin Anuar ; Rozanizam Zakaria ; Muhammad &lsquo ; Adil Zainal Abidin ; Nur Farah Izzati Misaridin
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2022;18(No.1):129-136
Introduction: Parents with autistic children are more susceptible of developing stress due to genuine challenges
in treasuring them. During the world pandemic disaster of COVID-19 emergency, the challenge is far greater than
expected as movement control order restricted them to seek for help and resources as the country adopting strict
isolation measurement to restrain COVID-19 virus infection. This survey was conducted online to determine the
prevalence of stress, independent predictor and assessing coping style that help to overcome them. Methods: This
was a cross-sectional study using Facebook platform. The survey was posted into Autisme Malaysia group for 2
weeks duration from 17th June until 30th June 2020. Stress was measured using Malay version of Perceived Stress
Scale (PSS-10) and coping style using Brief COPE questionnaire. Independent t-test was used to determine coping
style associated with stress and multiple logistic regression for independent stress predictor. Results: The mean age
of respondents was 38.9 years old with mean child’s age was 8.6 years old. Majority of respondents were female,
Malay, and married couples with 83.1% of the caregivers were having stress. The independent predictor for stress
were age of the caregivers and the level of education. The approach style of coping was significantly associated with
stress. Conclusion: The pandemic has directly and indirectly contributed to stress prevalence among caregivers of
children with autism. Hence, the right coping style should be embraced and empowered to parents for healthier
stress therapy. Our findings recommended that coping style of informational support, behavioural disengagement,
religion and acceptance as dynamic model of coping style.