The Brief Family Distress Scale: A Measure of Crisis in Caregivers of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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dc.contributor.authorWeiss, Jonathan
dc.contributor.authorLunsky, Yona
dc.date.accessioned2012-08-08T17:59:48Z
dc.date.available2012-08-08T17:59:48Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.descriptionDOI 10.1007/s10826-010-9419-yen_US
dc.description.abstractParents of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often experience stressors associated with caring for their child. These stressors can cause considerable distress for families, which at times can develop into full blown crisis, and it is important that professionals be able to quickly identify when families are approaching or are in crisis to respond appropriately. The current study presents an initial attempt to measure the subjective experience of crisis in 164 caregivers of people with ASD through a single item instrument, the Brief Family Distress Scale. The BFDS was negatively correlated with helpful coping mechanisms (family hardiness, and parent empowerment), and positive adjustment (caregiver quality of life and positive parenting experiences), and positively correlated with known stressors (severity of aggressive behavior, negative life events) and problematic coping and outcomes (caregiver burden, worry, mental health problems). As expected, caregivers at Marked levels of distress (approaching or in crisis) were significantly different from caregivers at lower levels of distress in nearly all of the dependent variables. Having a quick way of measuring where families are in terms of distress and crisis can be helpful for researchers and clinicians alike.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipOntario Mental Health Foundation
dc.identifier.citationWeiss, J. A., & Lunsky, Y. (2011). The Brief Family Distress Scale: A measure of crisis in caregivers of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 20, 521-528.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/17633
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherSpringeren_US
dc.rightsThe final publication is available at www.springerlink.comen_US
dc.rights.publisherwww.springerlink.comen_US
dc.subjectAutism Spectrum Disordersen_US
dc.subjectParentsen_US
dc.subjectStressen_US
dc.subjectCrisisen_US
dc.subjectMeasurementen_US
dc.titleThe Brief Family Distress Scale: A Measure of Crisis in Caregivers of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders
dc.typeArticleen_US

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