Family Functioning and Coping Strategy of Mothers of Autistic Children in AIISH at Mysuru with a View to Develop an Information Booklet

Autism is not a new condition in children, but it is only in recent years that the problems related to ASD have gained acceptance. WHO puts the global prevalence of autism at 1 in 500 and autism is 3 to 4 times more common in boys than girls. From one in 10,000 children ten years ago in India, the prevalence is 3–4 per 1,000 live births now. The incidence of autism in Karnataka has increased from 1 in 10,000 ten years ago to 1 in 150 today. Diagnosis of autism can be a frightening situation for all parents, mothers of autistic children now found they were exhausted all the time and found it hard to function well.

Descriptive survey design.

Non- Probability purposive sampling technique were used for the selection of 60 samples based on the sampling criteria.

Proforma for selected personal variables, self administered family functioning and coping strategy check lists.

The findings of the study revealed that majority of the samples 81.7% were having healthy family functioning and 75% were having adequate coping strategy. The study showed that, there is significant correlation between family functioning and coping strategy. The result also shown that family functioning of mothers had significant association with type of family, and copying strategy of mothers had significant association with age of mothers.

Therefore, the study concluded that mothers of autistic children in AIISH were having healthy family functioning and adequate coping strategy.