The Association Between Child and Family Characteristics and the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Caregivers of Children with Autism in Mid-Childhood.
Erica Salomone, Kathy Leadbitter, Catherine Aldred and 10 others
PMID 29177606WHAT IT FOUND
48% of caregivers of children with autism aged 8 to 12 met criteria for mental health difficulties, and wellbeing was lower than expected.
Child behaviour problems, poor daily living skills and intellectual disability were linked to distress; core autism symptoms were not.
Key findings
01Of 104 caregivers, 50 (48%) met criteria for mental health difficulties, and the median wellbeing score was 45, below the UK general population median of 51 for adults aged 35 to 44.
02After adjustment, caregiver mental health difficulties were more likely when the child had intellectual disability, daily living skills impairment, abnormal emotional and behavioural difficulties, or low household income; caregivers with low education were less likely.
03Child emotional and behavioural difficulties alone was the only factor associated with lower caregiver wellbeing, and neither core autism symptoms nor speech level were associated with caregiver mental health difficulties.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study measured caregiver mental health and child factors at one follow-up time, so it cannot show which factor caused which. Parents with severe psychiatric illness were excluded from the original trial, so results may not apply to caregivers with severe mental health problems. Only 104 caregivers were analysed, 68% of the original cohort, and 92.3% were mothers, so findings may not represent all caregivers. The same caregiver reported child emotional and behavioural difficulties and their own mental health and wellbeing, so associations may be affected by one person's reporting. Potential risk and protective factors such as negative life events, family conflict, medical illness, social support, coping and self-efficacy were not measured. Some adjusted effects had very wide confidence intervals, such as 1.57 to 166.20 for household income, so the exact size of effects is uncertain.
Declared interests
The supplied text reports funding by the Medical Research Council. It does not report author conflict-of-interest statements.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that autism symptoms, speech level or pre-school PACT therapy cause or relieve caregiver distress. Core autism symptoms and speech level were not associated with caregiver mental health difficulties, PACT assignment was not associated with either outcome, and the study measured associations at one time.