Efficacy of coping mechanisms used during COVID-19 as reported by parents of children with autism

Wang, Florence; Memis, Idil; Durocher, Jennifer S.; Furar, Emily; Cavalcante, Leylane; Eshraghi, Rebecca S.; Samson, Andrea C.; Van Herwegen, Jo; Dukes, Daniel; Alessandri, Michael; Mittal, Rahul; Eshraghi, Adrien A.

doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0283494

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Journal article

Efficacy of coping mechanisms used during COVID-19 as reported by parents of children with autism

Wang, Florence Hearing Research and Communication Disorders Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States of America
Memis, Idil Hearing Research and Communication Disorders Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States of America
Durocher, Jennifer S. Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, United States of America
Furar, Emily ORCID Hearing Research and Communication Disorders Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States of America
Cavalcante, Leylane Hearing Research and Communication Disorders Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States of America,
Eshraghi, Rebecca S. Hearing Research and Communication Disorders Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States of America,
Samson, Andrea C. ORCID Institute of Special Education, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. Faculty of Psychology, Unidistance Suisse, Brig, Switzerland
Van Herwegen, Jo ORCID Department of Psychology and Human Development, UCL, Institute of Education, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Dukes, Daniel ORCID Institute of Special Education, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Alessandri, Michael Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, United States of America
Mittal, Rahul Hearing Research and Communication Disorders Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States of America
Eshraghi, Adrien A. ORCID Hearing Research and Communication Disorders Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States of America. Department of Neurological Surgery, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States of America. Department of Pediatrics, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, United States of America

2023

Published in:

PLOS ONE. - 2023, vol. 18, no. 4, p. e0283494.

English The COVID-19 pandemic’s alterations to daily life have been especially challenging for families with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), worsening the core features of ASD and overall mental health. With the increased need for effective coping, the current retrospective study used data from a survey regarding parent reports of how often their child with ASD used certain coping strategies (frequency), as well as the extent to which they felt their child benefitted from their use (efficacy) in mitigating stress during the pandemic. This retrospective study Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to evaluate whether there were significant differences in both frequency and efficacy ratings for each coping strategy, for the entire sample as well as for three children’s age groups. Using Spearman’s rank-order correlations, correlation coefficients between the frequency and efficacy of each coping strategy were explored. Results revealed that maladaptive strategies were used more frequently than adaptive strategies, while parent routine as the most frequently used and efficacious for all age groups. Additionally, for adaptive strategies, humor and focusing on the positive had the strongest correlations between frequency and efficacy ratings amongst all age groups. Of the maladaptive strategies, repetitive behaviors, rumination, and isolation had the strongest correlations for the youngest, middle, and oldest age groups, respectively. Further, for each age group, the adaptive coping strategies had stronger correlations between frequency and efficacy than the maladaptive ones. It is our hope that the results of this study will lay the foundation for developing adaptive coping strategies to alleviate stress in children with ASD. Further investigations using a larger cohort are warranted to determine effective coping strategies for individuals with ASD across a range of situations, including acute stressors (such as future public health emergencies and natural disasters), as well as common daily stressors.

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