PERCEPTIONS ON SUPPORT, CHALLENGES AND NEEDS AMONG PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM: THE SERBIAN EXPERIENCE

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) significantly impact lives of affected individuals and their families. They confront daunting challenges and multiple demands in their daily life, when compared to parents of children with other disabilities or parents of typically developing children. Subjects and methods: Participants completed The Caregiver Needs Survey, the survey intended for parents or primary caregivers of children with a diagnosis of ASD. During the study, 231 parents were interviewed; 167 mothers and 64 fathers. Parents were recruited from the patient database comprised of families from the two largest cities in Serbia. All of them were contacted before the study, either via phone or at the child’s regular check-in visit. Results: Over 90 percent of the parents reported that additional support at schools, home, and improved relationships with service providers are necessary and important. The most important challenges related to care were child’s communication difficulties, social interaction difficulties, and problems with daily living skills. The significant predictors of lower overall satisfaction were parent’s higher education, having a first concern related to problems of the child’s interaction with others or playing alone, and parent frustration with accessing services in the past 12 months. Greater overall satisfaction, on the other hand, was related to having an in-school tutor training or assistance in managing child’s needs or implementing treatments, and having primary care doctor or pediatrician as a source of information on autism. Conclusions: Future efforts to develop ASD-related policies and services should also take the following into consideration: the low level of awareness among caregivers and health care providers about the early signs of autism; disparities in access to services; educational problems and significant levels of dissatisfaction with the overall care and stigma

PERCEPTIONS ON SUPPORT, CHALLENGES AND NEEDS AMONG PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM: THE SERBIAN EXPERIENCE

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) significantly impact lives of affected individuals and their families. They confront daunting challenges and multiple demands in their daily life, when compared to parents of children with other disabilities or parents of typically developing children. Subjects and methods: Participants completed The Caregiver Needs Survey, the survey intended for parents or primary caregivers of children with a diagnosis of ASD. During the study, 231 parents were interviewed; 167 mothers and 64 fathers. Parents were recruited from the patient database comprised of families from the two largest cities in Serbia. All of them were contacted before the study, either via phone or at the child’s regular check-in visit. Results: Over 90 percent of the parents reported that additional support at schools, home, and improved relationships with service providers are necessary and important. The most important challenges related to care were child’s communication difficulties, social interaction difficulties, and problems with daily living skills. The significant predictors of lower overall satisfaction were parent’s higher education, having a first concern related to problems of the child’s interaction with others or playing alone, and parent frustration with accessing services in the past 12 months. Greater overall satisfaction, on the other hand, was related to having an in-school tutor training or assistance in managing child’s needs or implementing treatments, and having primary care doctor or pediatrician as a source of information on autism. Conclusions: Future efforts to develop ASD-related policies and services should also take the following into consideration: the low level of awareness among caregivers and health care providers about the early signs of autism; disparities in access to services; educational problems and significant levels of dissatisfaction with the overall care and stigma

Correction to: The child and adolescent psychiatry: study of training in Europe (CAP‑STATE)

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How are parental practices and attitudes towards corporal punishment related to child academic, developmental, or psychological–emotional dysfunctioning?

Corporal punishment (CP) is a widely spread disciplining practice among parents and caregivers globally. Our paper aimed to explore the relationship between the parental attitudes towards CP, expected outcomes of CP, and parenting practices on one hand, with the reported dysfunctions of their children, on the other. Additionally, we aimed to explore the relationship between the use of CP and the reported academic, developmental, and psychological–emotional dysfunctions of their children. The present study involved a nationally representative sample of 1186 parents in Serbia, who had at least one child aged 0–18 years at the moment of interviewing. The parents filled out a series of questionnaires on their attitudes towards CP, expectations of CP outcomes, and their parental practices. Findings indicate that parents that report having a child with dysfunctions have positive attitudes towards CP and expect positive outcomes of CP. These parents also report using more CP as a disciplining method, as well as other harsh disciplining practices. We also identified parental positive expectations of CP, use of physical assault, psychological aggression, neglect as significant predictors of reported child dysfunctions severity. Having all the results in mind, we can assume that children with health-related and school-related issues might be at potential risk of further maltreatment.Peer-reviewed manuscript: [http://ipir.ipisr.org.rs/handle/123456789/908

How are parental practices and attitudes towards corporal punishment related to child academic, developmental, or psychological–emotional dysfunctioning?

Corporal punishment (CP) is a widely spread disciplining practice among parents and caregivers globally. Our paper aimed to explore the relationship between the parental attitudes towards CP, expected outcomes of CP, and parenting practices on one hand, with the reported dysfunctions of their children, on the other. Additionally, we aimed to explore the relationship between the use of CP and the reported academic, developmental, and psychological–emotional dysfunctions of their children. The present study involved a nationally representative sample of 1186 parents in Serbia, who had at least one child aged 0–18 years at the moment of interviewing. The parents filled out a series of questionnaires on their attitudes towards CP, expectations of CP outcomes, and their parental practices. Findings indicate that parents that report having a child with dysfunctions have positive attitudes towards CP and expect positive outcomes of CP. These parents also report using more CP as a disciplining method, as well as other harsh disciplining practices. We also identified parental positive expectations of CP, use of physical assault, psychological aggression, neglect as significant predictors of reported child dysfunctions severity. Having all the results in mind, we can assume that children with health-related and school-related issues might be at potential risk of further maltreatment.This is the peer reviewed version of the paper:Grujicic, R., Toskovic, O., Lazarević, L. B., Mandic-Maravic, V., Mitkovic-Voncina, M., Radanović, A., Radosavljev-Kircanski, J., Videnović, M., Pekmezovic, T., & Pejovic Milovancevic, M. (2022). How are parental practices and attitudes towards corporal punishment related to child academic, developmental, or psychological–emotional dysfunctioning? European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. [https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-022-02061-z

Interaction of glutathione S-transferase polymorphisms and tobacco smoking during pregnancy in susceptibility to autism spectrum disorders

Abstract Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of complex psychiatric disorders, with a proposed gene-environment interaction in their etiology. One mechanism that could explain both the genetic and environmental component is oxidative stress. The aim of our study was to investigate the potential role of common polymorphisms in genes for glutathione transferase A1, M1, T1 and P1 in susceptibility to ASD. We also aimed to explore the possible oxidative stress - specific gene-environment interaction, regarding GST polymorphisms, maternal smoking tobacco during pregnancy (TSDP) and the risk of ASD. This case-control study included 113 children with ASD and 114 age and sex-matched controls. The diagnosis was made based on ICD-10 criteria and verified by Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R). We investigated GSTA1, GSTM1, GSTP1 and GSTT1 genotypes and explored their individual and combined effects in individuals with ASD. Individual effect of GST genotypes was shown for GSTM1 active genotype decreasing the risk of ASD (OR = 0.554, 95%CI: 0.313–0.983, p = 0.044), and for GSTA1 CC genotype, increasing susceptibility to ASD (OR = 4.132, 95%CI: 1.219–14.012, p = 0.023); the significance was lost when genotype-genotype interactions were added into the logistic regression model. The combination of GSTM1 active and GSTT1 active genotype decreased the risk of ASD (OR = 0.126, 95%CI: 0.029–0.547, p = 0.006), as well as combination of GSTT1 active and GSTP1 llelle (OR = 0.170, 95%CI: 0.029–0.992, p = 0.049). Increased risk of ASD was observed if combination of GSTM1 active and GSTP1 llelle was present (OR = 11.088, 95%CI: 1.745–70.456, p = 0.011). The effect of TSDP was not significant for the risk of ASD, neither individually, nor in interaction with specific GST genotypes. Specific combination of GST genotypes might be associated with susceptibility to ASD, while it appears that maternal smoking during pregnancy does not increase the risk of ASD