For assessing the prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), type 1 diabetes (DM), and typical development (TD) in a geographical area where such information is lacking. Several practices have reported that families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience more parenting stress than families of children with typical development (TD) or those diagnosed with other disabilities. On the DASS-21, both groups 1 and 2 had higher mean scores for depression (37.86), anxiety (4.58), and stress (29.81) than the control group (P=0.015). On the PSS-14, the mean score was higher in group 2 (28.63) than in group 1 (27.61) and the comparison group (25.87) (P=0.004). On the DASS 21, group 1 scored higher in the depression domain (P=0.046), whereas group 2 scored higher in the anxiety domain (P=0.034) and stress domain (P=0.009) than the TD group. Mothers of children with ASD were advised to be assessed for depression following diagnosis. Mothers of children with type 1 diabetes require careful monitoring for the effects of anxiety and stress on their mental health and, therefore, their ability to cope with diabetes management plans.
Link:jneurodevdisorders.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s11689-021-09369-y
