Relationship between the functional aspects of the development of children with autistic spectrum disorder and the burden index of caregivers

• Grant number: 11/22626-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Andréa Regina Nunes Misquiatti
• Grantee: Jéssica dos Santos Ceron
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by presenting deficits in social interaction, communication and behavior patterns, restricted interest, and repetitive and stereotyped activities. Simultaneously with ASD, there may exist some comorbidities, among them the alterations of motor coordination, causing a delay in learning fine motor abilities, global motor coordination, equilibrium, body scheme, and special and temporal organization. However, occupational therapy aims to provide more independence to the child, concerning healthier participation in the social context, minimizing their burden index. The objective of this research is to evaluate, through PEDI, the functional aspects of the development of children diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and to correlate them to the burden index of parents. A total of 20 parents or tutors of children, of both genders, from four to seven and a half years of age, diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, will take part in this study. To characterize the functional aspects of children, the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) will be applied, and to determine the burden index, it will be applied the burden Interview (BI). The results will be forwarded to statistical analyses. For the correlation of the results, it will be applied the Spearman correlation analysis. For variables comparison, the Mann-Whitney test will be applied.(AU)