An Examination of the Relations Between Symptom Distributions in Children Diagnosed with Autism and Caregiver Burden, Anxiety and Depression Levels.

An Examination of the Relations Between Symptom Distributions in Children Diagnosed with Autism and Caregiver Burden, Anxiety and Depression Levels. Community Ment Health J. 2018 Oct 17;: Authors: Baykal S, Karakurt MN, Çakır M, Karabekiroğlu K Abstract High stress levels and impairment of physical/mental health in parents can delay early and effective intervention in autism. The purpose of this study was to examine relations between the clinical characteristics of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and caregiver burden, and anxiety and depression levels. Seventy cases under monitoring at the Namık Kemal University Medical Faculty Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Polyclinic with a diagnosis of ASD, and their principal caregivers, were included in the study. The Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale were completed. At multiple regression analysis, autism symptom severity and caregiver depressive symptom levels emerged as significant predictors of total caregiver burden scores. Only the ABC language subscale score had a determining effect on caregiver burden (r = 0.51, r2 = 0.26, p = 0.04). ABC body and object use subscale scores were identified as the symptom cluster affecting depression and anxiety scores (r = 0.25, r2 = 0.06, p = 0.03 and r = 0.28, r2 = 0.08, p = 0.01). Our findings sho...
Source: Community Mental Health Journal - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Community Ment Health J Source Type: research