Parental stress and support perception in southern Italy's households with intellectual disabilities and/or autistic spectrum disorder before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The stress experienced by parents of persons with Intellectual Disability (ID) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is higher than that of parents of neurotypical children (TD). An important protective factor is the perception of the support received within the family and the social network. The emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the health of people with ASD/ID and their families. The aim of the study was to describe the levels of parental stress and anxiety before and during the lockdown in southern Italy's families with ASD/ID persons and analyze how the levels of support perceived by these families. 106 parents, the ages of 23 and 74 years (M = 45; SD = 9), from southern Italy responded to an online battery of questionnaires measuring parental stress, anxiety, perception of support and attendance at school activities and rehabilitation centers, before and during lockdown. In addition, descriptive, Chi-Square, MANOVA, ANOVAs, and correlational analyses were conducted. The results showed that during the lockdown, attendance at therapies and extra-moenia activities and participation in school activities drastically dropped. During lockdown, parents felt inadequate. The parental stress and anxiety were moderate, but the perception of support dropped significantly.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Covid-19 pandemic; Intellectual Disabilities; Parental stress; Parental support; Social support.