Meanwhile, parents in both groups also reported improvements in their children's emotional regulation. Overall, parents in both groups reported less stress for up to a year afterward, but the effects were greater in the MBSR group. Parents attended in-person sessions until the pandemic intervened, and the study shifted to an online format. Half were randomly assigned to learn MBSR, while the other half received a standard educational and support service that did not directly address parents' stress. The basic idea is for people to become aware of their habitual reactions to daily stressors - whether they ruminate or "catastrophize," for example - and learn to give their attention to the present moment instead.įenning's team recruited 117 parents of preschoolers with autism, most of whom were from under-served minority families. It combines meditation and gentle yoga postures, with the goal of helping people shift their responses to stress. They turned to mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) - a standardized, eight-week program first developed in the 1970s by Jon Kabat-Zinn, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. So Fenning and her colleagues wanted to see whether teaching parents an approach to coping could help. The stressors can range from problems accessing autism services or learning how to implement a child's therapy strategies at home, to the bigger-picture issues of balancing work and home life, paying the bills and more. Traditionally, she noted, there's been something of an assumption that services that benefit children with autism will also help ease parents' stress.īut that is not necessarily true, since parents can be dealing with all kinds of challenges, said Fenning, who directs the Claremont Autism Center at Claremont McKenna College, in Claremont, Calif. There are various therapies and services to help improve daily functioning and quality of life for kids with autism.īut they typically do not address parents' stress and coping skills, said Rachel Fenning, the lead researcher on the new study. Some children have intellectual disabilities, while others have average or above-average IQs. Some kids have milder difficulties, but others are profoundly affected - speaking little, if at all, and getting wrapped up in repetitive, obsessive behaviors. Parenting is stressful, and studies show that parents of kids with autism often have particularly high stress levels.Īutism is a developmental brain disorder that, to varying degrees, impairs communication and social skills. WEDNESDAY, (HealthDay News) - "Mindfulness" practices may help parents of young children with autism manage their daily stressors, and it could benefit their kids in the process, a preliminary study suggests. Editors and writers make all efforts to clarify any financial ties behind the studies on which we report. All of our articles are chosen independent of any financial interests. HeathDay is committed to maintaining the highest possible levels of impartial editorial standards in the content that we present on our website. Any known potential conflicts of interest associated with a study or source are made clear to the reader.Įditorial and Fact-Checking Policy for more detail.Įditorial and Fact-Checking Policy HealthDay Editorial Commitment.Each article includes a link or reference to the original source.Peer-reviewed journals or issued from independent and respected medical associations, academic groups and governmental organizations. Unless otherwise noted, all articles focusing on new research are based on studies published in.All articles are edited and checked for factual accuracy by our.Team of industry experts to ensure accuracy. Our syndicated news content is completely independent of any financial interests, is based solely on industry-respected sources and the latest scientific research, and is carefully fact-checked by a HealthDay operates under the strictest editorial standards.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |