Living With Autism In The Family:Stresses And Coping Strategies Of Family Caregivers

Autism is no longer a rare disease today,but the figure of family caregivers with autism is still hidden in the blind corner of public vision.The Family caregivers of autistic people bear the main care responsibility of taking care of autistic people.Because of the characteristics of early and long-term diagnosis process,no self-care ability,lifelong rehabilitation and no obvious rehabilitation effect,family caregivers of autistic people bear the caregiver burden that exceeds that of ordinary people and even other caregivers with disabilities,which will have adverse effects on their own health and rehabilitation of autistic people.The phenomenon of supporting the disabled for the elderly with the passage of time is a major challenge to China’s social care system.This paper adopts the case study method of qualitative research method,collecting data by using semi-structured interview and participatory observation method in the face of eight autism family caregivers,then personalized dig into caregivers personal experience in the perspective of subjectivity.Finally we will present the caregiver burden in the autism family life cycle and adjustment process,and the impact of caregiver coping styles and social support on caregiver burdens.Then we hope to put forward practical suggestions under the field of social work to alleviate the burden of family caregivers with autism.We found that the family caregivers of autistic are mainly the mothers or fathers of autistic patients,and few others share the heavy care tasks.Therefore,the family caregivers of autistic bear the burdens from economic,psychological and social aspects,which are mainly influenced by the caregivers themselves,autistic children and social environment,and the content and intensity of these burdens will change with the life cycle of autistic family members.With the passage of long time,caregivers’ stressors,stress cognition and evaluation,and coping styles also change in stages,and social support is an important external force.Specifically,stress cognition and evaluation mainly went through the process from rejection to acceptance.The coping style reflects the strategic change from emotional coping to problem coping.Social support from formal and informal systems is an important external factor in this coping adjustment process,which has an impact on the burden of family caregivers of autism and their coping styles.in a word,the coping experience accumulated by family caregivers of autism in the process of coping with stress has played an important role in the adjustment of caregiver burden.By discussing and summarizing the influencing factors of the burden of family caregivers of autism and its adjustment process,this article gives some advices on how to fully exert the professional power of the social work of autistic groups and their families from the angle of Disabled and Family Social Work.Firstly,the methods of improving family relationship and rebuilding family structure should be applied to the support services for family caregivers with autism,so as to promote the generation of family resources and explore the source of strength for family caregivers to cope with the pressure.Second,we should improve the professionalism,effectiveness and sustainability of social work services for the disabled.Social workers and social organizations should examine the situation of autistic people with a systematic and biased thinking,respond to more real needs,provide more accurate support,and establish more effective performance indicators,so as to deepen the practice of autism services,and finally promote policy improvement and seek well-being for autistic groups and their families.Lastly,professional social workers,social organizations and the public should pay close attention to autistic groups and their caregivers,and jointly promote the construction of a disability-friendly society.