Title: Coping Processes as Revealed in the Stories of Mothers of Children With Autism.
Authors: Marshall, Vaughan; Long, Bonita C.
Abstract: Copious research evidence identifies the many stressors faced by mothers of children with autism. The aim of this study was to examine the ways in which coping is revealed in the content and structure of stories told by five mothers of children with autism. Narrative data were analyzed using both holistic-form and categorical-content approaches. Manifestations of coping were revealed in the macrostructures of stories. Cognitive coping strategies were particularly apparent in the life stories, which tended to focus on the emotional and cognitive journeys of the storytellers. Stories of discrete coping episodes added information about behavioral coping strategies employed in specific situations. Analysis of form, particularly of the structure of the life stories, yielded strategies the mothers employed to make meaning of autism in their lives.
Subjects: MOTHER-child relationship; AUTISM in children; PSYCHOLOGICAL adaptation; ADAPTABILITY (Personality); STORYTELLING; NARRATIVE inquiry (Research method)
Publication: Qualitative Health Research, 2010, Vol 20, Issue 1, p105
ISSN: 1049-7323
Publication type: Academic Journal
DOI: 10.1177/1049732309348367

Coping Processes as Revealed in the Stories of Mothers of Children With Autism.

Marshall, Vaughan; Long, Bonita C.