Social Support Domains for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Assessing Perceived Needs and Stress Levels

摘要

The current study investigated types of social support needs through a number of domains reported by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) along with the relationship of these needs to reported parental stress. Female participants (N = 35) in the South Central Kentucky region responded to a number of measures regarding perceptions of their current stress levels on the Parenting Stress Index - Short Form (PSI-SF) and their perceptions on social support needs through a modified version of the Family Needs Questionnaire (FNQ). The results indicated that there was a moderately strong correlation between social support needs and parental stress. For exploratory analyses, the results indicated that several social support domains significantly correlated with parental stress. Further research was recommended to explore the seven social support need domains used in the current study with ASD families.