Banca de DEFESA: AMANDA LUÍZA MESSIAS MATOS

SELF-EFFICACY IN MOTHERS OF PEOPLE WITH DISORDER AUTISM SPECTRUM (ASD)

Self-efficacy; ASD; Autism; Motherhood; Support network.

The concept of Self-Efficacy, developed by Bandura, can be defined as a subjective phenomena of self judgement in having the skills to organize, plan and execute actions in order to reach goals. As a result, there is evidence of the association between low sense of self-efficacy and the presence of some psychiatric disorders. Consequently, the present qualitative study has the objective of investigating the self-efficacy in mothers of participants with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Rio de Janeiro’s city. The survey included 169 mothers of children and teenagers diagnosed with ASD, with children of 2 to 18 years old, living in the city of Rio de Janeiro. As a result, it was identified that self-efficacy negatively correlates with personal levels of stress and the presence of maternal psychiatric disorders. Apart from that, mothers with support networks had higher mean general perceived self-efficacy in comparison to mothers without functioning support networks. It was also demonstrated lower stress levels in mothers with a family composition with co-parenting. Finally, there was no significant correlation between the mother’s self-efficacy and the different severity levels of their children with ASD.