Occurrence and correlates of anxiety and depression in carers of autistic children across three nations

Abstract

Purpose

Caring for an autistic child is associated with elevated stress, anxiety and depression. Although some data suggest that ‘child’ or ‘carer’ factors may moderate the severity of carer distress, relatively few international comparisons have been made, limiting the generalizability of previous findings. This study aimed to address this issue.

Method

A survey-based comparison was made of carers from three nations (Australia, Denmark, Greece), and the effects of demographic, child, and carer variables upon carer anxiety and depression were investigated.

Results

Only limited cross-nation consistency was found for nation, child, or carer variables and their effects upon carer anxiety or depression.

Conclusion

The application of universal treatment models for carer anxiety and depression may be of differing value across nations.

Keywords:

• Autism
• child
• carer
• stress
• anxiety
• depression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

This study was conducted in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committees of Bond University Human Research Ethics Committee (2016, Approval no. RO1516); the University of Southern Denmark Data protection Board (16/48040 and 10.260); and the P. and A. Kyriakou General Children’s Hospital’s Scientific Board (Approval no. ΑΔΑ: 7Ζ4646906Ρ). All participants gave their written or verbal consent to the study.

Notes

1 Following current preferences, the term “autistic” will be used to denote persons with ASD.

2 ‘Carer’ is used instead of ‘parent’ to allow for the inclusion of a wider range of adults who take primary care of an autistic child. In this context, ‘carer’ was applied to the person(s) who took primary responsibility for the day to day care of the autistic child, regardless of their genetic relationship to that child.