Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism and their caregivers: Findings from an online survey
Background: The coronavirus pandemic has had an unparalleled impact on the social, economic, physical, and subjective well-being of individuals in general, and children with special needs and their families in particular. Objectives: The objective is to examine the emotional and behavioral impact of...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2024-01-01
|
| Series: | Journal of the Scientific Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.jscisociety.com/article.asp?issn=0974-5009;year=2024;volume=51;issue=1;spage=61;epage=65;aulast=Malhi |
| _version_ | 1797246104664801280 |
|---|---|
| author | Prahbhjot Malhi Arushi Gahlot Saini |
| author_facet | Prahbhjot Malhi Arushi Gahlot Saini |
| author_sort | Prahbhjot Malhi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: The coronavirus pandemic has had an unparalleled impact on the social, economic, physical, and subjective well-being of individuals in general, and children with special needs and their families in particular. Objectives: The objective is to examine the emotional and behavioral impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism and their families. Methodology: The study utilized an online Google Form and elicited information on sociodemographic background, types of therapies utilized before the pandemic, services available during the pandemic, utilization of services, satisfaction, challenges faced in management, perceived stress, and behavioral and emotional functioning of children during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Parenting stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PPS) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) measured the emotional and behavioral functioning of autism spectrum disorders children. Results: A total of 62 caregivers responded to the survey. The COVID-19 restrictions were found to have significantly limited access to face-to-face educational and therapeutic services for the majority of the patients and only 17.7% reported receiving health-care services. Among the families that utilized the online intervention services, only 36.4% were satisfied and the satisfaction among families utilizing virtual educational services (43.5%) was even lower (14.5%). The stepwise multivariate regression analysis indicated that 16.1% of the variance in the total SDQ score of the child was accounted for by the PPS score (F = 11.47, P = 0.001). Conclusions: The worsening of challenging behaviors during COVID-19 underscores the need to intervene early and to expand the outreach of empirically supported telehealth interventions, especially among the underserved communities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T19:37:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-61e98f34815d4849a63821e87f0dc866 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0974-5009 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T19:37:30Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of the Scientific Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-61e98f34815d4849a63821e87f0dc8662024-03-25T12:58:35ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsJournal of the Scientific Society0974-50092024-01-01511616510.4103/jss.jss_287_22Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism and their caregivers: Findings from an online surveyPrahbhjot MalhiArushi Gahlot SainiBackground: The coronavirus pandemic has had an unparalleled impact on the social, economic, physical, and subjective well-being of individuals in general, and children with special needs and their families in particular. Objectives: The objective is to examine the emotional and behavioral impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism and their families. Methodology: The study utilized an online Google Form and elicited information on sociodemographic background, types of therapies utilized before the pandemic, services available during the pandemic, utilization of services, satisfaction, challenges faced in management, perceived stress, and behavioral and emotional functioning of children during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Parenting stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PPS) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) measured the emotional and behavioral functioning of autism spectrum disorders children. Results: A total of 62 caregivers responded to the survey. The COVID-19 restrictions were found to have significantly limited access to face-to-face educational and therapeutic services for the majority of the patients and only 17.7% reported receiving health-care services. Among the families that utilized the online intervention services, only 36.4% were satisfied and the satisfaction among families utilizing virtual educational services (43.5%) was even lower (14.5%). The stepwise multivariate regression analysis indicated that 16.1% of the variance in the total SDQ score of the child was accounted for by the PPS score (F = 11.47, P = 0.001). Conclusions: The worsening of challenging behaviors during COVID-19 underscores the need to intervene early and to expand the outreach of empirically supported telehealth interventions, especially among the underserved communities.http://www.jscisociety.com/article.asp?issn=0974-5009;year=2024;volume=51;issue=1;spage=61;epage=65;aulast=Malhiautism spectrum disorderbehavioral problemspandemicperceived stresstherapeutic services |
| spellingShingle | Prahbhjot Malhi Arushi Gahlot Saini Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism and their caregivers: Findings from an online survey Journal of the Scientific Society autism spectrum disorder behavioral problems pandemic perceived stress therapeutic services |
| title | Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism and their caregivers: Findings from an online survey |
| title_full | Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism and their caregivers: Findings from an online survey |
| title_fullStr | Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism and their caregivers: Findings from an online survey |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism and their caregivers: Findings from an online survey |
| title_short | Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism and their caregivers: Findings from an online survey |
| title_sort | impact of the covid 19 pandemic on children with autism and their caregivers findings from an online survey |
| topic | autism spectrum disorder behavioral problems pandemic perceived stress therapeutic services |
| url | http://www.jscisociety.com/article.asp?issn=0974-5009;year=2024;volume=51;issue=1;spage=61;epage=65;aulast=Malhi |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT prahbhjotmalhi impactofthecovid19pandemiconchildrenwithautismandtheircaregiversfindingsfromanonlinesurvey AT arushigahlotsaini impactofthecovid19pandemiconchildrenwithautismandtheircaregiversfindingsfromanonlinesurvey |