Opinião de mães de crianças com autismo sobre os serviços de apoio, satisfação parental e suporte social

Abstract

It is known that family contexts are fundamental for the development and learning of the human being, especially for families of children with autism, due to the developmental particularities they have. In this sense, the research objectives were: (a) to identify and analyze the support services, parental satisfaction and social support of families of children with autism and (b) to relate parental satisfaction and social support with the sociodemographic data of families of children with autism. The research design is descriptive and correlational. Participated in the research 15 mothers of children with autism, aged between three and eight years, enrolled in public schools. The instruments used in the research were: Questionnaire characterizing the family system, Brazil Criterion, Questionnaire of social support, Questionnaire of parental satisfaction and a semi-structured interview script. The collection took place by individual interview, in person or remotely. The data collected were quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data underwent analysis of central and dispersion measures and the qualitative data were analyzed through the elaboration of categories. To correlate the variables, the Spearman correlation test was used. The results of the research on the schooling of children with autism showed that all children were enrolled in Early Childhood Education, and only 4 children received Specialized Educational Assistance, showing the lack of assistance in regular schools. Regarding services and family needs, 9 children in the study attended a specialized institution in addition to the regular school, and the psychologist was the most indicated professional as the mothers' interest to receive care, for them and for their children. Regarding parental satisfaction, despite the stress, mothers felt satisfied to be mothers, especially in good times with their children. With social support, it was possible to perceive that the greater the number of supportive people, the greater the satisfaction of the mothers, and the most suitable support person was the children themselves. As for the correlations, the positive ones were: the age of the mothers with items related to time with the child; the age of the children with the importance of parenting and items related to emotional support; the mothers' schooling with the number of people and with the satisfaction with emotional support received. It is concluded that public services must be offered to enhance the child's development and, over the years, mothers become more likely to have good social support, increasing Parental Satisfaction.