The impact of strength-based interventions on the mobility of families raising children with autism

The birth of a child with autism determines the characteristics of the family in the system of social interactions. The objective of the study is to determine the features of the impact of a strength-centered approach on the mobility of families raising children with autism based on the analysis of the academic literature and through the experimental implementation of the intervention. The study involved 90 parents of children with autism (two control groups consisting of 30 people each and an experimental group consisting of 30 people; the experiment was conducted on the basis of the Training and Rehabilitation Center "Trust" in Lviv). The analysis of the academic literature made it possible to identify different strategies of social support for families, to characterize the approach focused on the strengths of clients. A survey of parents revealed that families raising children with autism have low indicators of social mobility, which is determined by the characteristics of the nosology of autism, the need for care, living with a sense of stigma and autostigma. The intervention lasted for three months and involved the participation of parents in weekly meetings. The results of the experiment substantiate the effectiveness of the use of interventions based on family strengths to improve self-esteem of the quality of life by family members, including increasing social activity of the family, developing skills of interaction with the social environment, reducing guilt and shame, transformation of negative attitudes to cooperation into positive ones, increase in the number of interactions in the life of family members and desire for professional and cultural integration into the life of the community. However, the application of the approach has certain limitations, among which should be noted the need for intrinsic motivation of the family, the risks of ethical or methodological dilemmas for social workers; the threat of regression at the end of participation in the intervention, the impossibility of applying the approach in emergency and short-term forms of work.