The project of clinical psychologists from AltSU will help mothers of children with autism

Clinical psychologists from Altai State University are developing algorithms for helping mothers of children with developmental disorders. Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology of the Institute of Humanities, Candidate of Psychological Sciences Anna Kuzmina and a postgraduate student Kristina Krivoshey are implementing a project within the framework of an intra-university grant.

According to Rosstat, 9959 children are registered in Altai Krai receiving disability welfare, which accounts to about 2% of the child population of the region. The project "Psychological health of women raising a child with developmental disorders" is aimed at a systematic assessment of the psychological health of women raising, in particular, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

“Scientists have long proven that the emotional state of the mother, her psychological health, her parenting style directly affects the health of the child. Women who are mothering a child, for example, with autism, are in constant chronic stress. Firstly, giving birth to an impaired child is grief in itself. Secondly, their life is a constant struggle for small changes, for small progress. These changes in the course of working with a child with autism are achieved in very small steps. In order for the child to learn to perform the actions that a normal child performs naturally, they have to struggle. Moreover, the result does not always depend on the mother, the specialist, and the medications that the child takes. A lot is determined by their own resources, which are not always sufficient,” Anna Kuzmina noted.

Psychologists from Altai State University cooperate with the Altai Regional Center for Psychological, Pedagogical and Medical and Social Assistance, which helps children with learning, development and social adaptation difficulties. The mothers of the children visiting the Center agreed to take part in the project and pass a series of surveys.

“After a detailed analysis of the research, we will give the mothers recommendations: how to cope with stress, where to find resources, how to activate their own resources. It will be a kind of program of psychological support for women. We have been working on this topic for two years already, we have a good start. We have at our disposal five registered databases on problems of general and clinical psychology. We hope that our experience will be useful to specialists, private psychological centers who also want to provide psychological assistance to such mothers.”

The scientists plan to implement the results of intellectual activity in the form of a business contract for interested parties.