A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON THE COPING STRATEGIES OF PARENTS

OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

IN TACLOBAN CITY

An Undergraduate Research Paper Presented to

the Division of Social Sciences
University of the Philippines Visayas
Tacloban College
Tacloban City, Leyte

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts Social Sciences (Psychology)

Athena Lynn P. Dolina

Charles Vincent C. Manarang
Mariesan R. Pulma

March 2012

APPROVAL SHEET

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This undergraduate thesis attached hereto, entitled A Descriptive Study on the Coping Strategies of
Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Tacloban City, prepared and submitted by
Ms. Athena Lynn P. Dolina, Mr. Charles Vincent C. Manarang, and Ms. Mariesan R. Pulma in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences (Psychology),
is hereby accepted.

PIERCE S. DOCENA
Adviser

Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences
(Psychology).

ERVINA A. ESPINA
Chair
Division of Social Sciences
UP Visayas Tacloban College

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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We would like to acknowledge and thank the people behind our group who made this
undergraduate research possible.
To Dr. Evangeline Abuyabor for her unwavering support to our group by helping us look for
respondents and give referrals of parents and for letting us be part of the Autism Society of the
Philippines (ASP),
To Mr. Ranil Sorongon and the staff of ASP in Quezon City for allowing us to use their facilities
in order for our research to be more comprehensive,
To Ms. Vanessa Abuyabor for sharing her insights regarding the conduct of our research,
To Mrs. Fayree Tayanes for freely allowing us to conduct our data gathering in their school,
To the teachers and staff of Tacloban Center for Autism and other developmental disabilities
(TCADD) and J.E.S.U.S Kids Therapy Center for aiding us,
To Mr. Tom Keith R. Cordero for sharing with us the access code to his Ateneo E-Lib Account,
our first few chapters were bulked up because of this
To the parents who have given their time and effort for us, to our classmates and friends and close
friends who are always there for us, to our mentor Prof. Pierce S. Docena, for imparting to us the
knowledge in making the best research paper, to our parents and relatives for their understanding and
support,
And most of all, to God the Almighty for making all things possible.

ABSTRACT

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Although several studies about autism have been conducted worldwide, only a
few of the said studies focused on the coping strategies of parents of children
with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). And only a minority of these focused on
parents in Asian countries. This research is a qualitative and quantitative study
of the coping strategies of parents with ASD in Tacloban City, which specifically
seeks to (1) determine the different factors that result in stress of parents of
children with ASD, (2) measure the level of stress of parents of children with
ASD, and (3) identify the different coping strategies of parents whose children
have ASD. The sample for this study consisted of 8 parents (6 mothers and 2
fathers) of children with ASD. The responses from the interviews generated data
about the stresses that they encountered and their coping strategies. The level of
stress of parents was measured using a subscale of the Family Impact
Questionnaire (FIQ). Other tests such as the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC)
and Purpose in Life Test (PIL-R) measured the meaningfulness of the
individuals lives. The results of these tests were used to support the level of
stress present among parents. This research aims to guide parents on how they
deal with the stresses that they encounter with their child with ASD.