[Development of a scale to measure life transition process in parents of children with autism].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this research was to develop a scale to measure the life transition process of parents of children with autism, against the backdrop of a lack of research on this topic.


METHODS
Seventy preliminary items were drawn from previous qualitative research, and content validity was tested by three professors as well as three parents of children with autism. A questionnaire survey was also done between August 2011 and February 2012. Data were collected from 207 parents of children with autism and analyzed using descriptive statistics, item analysis, Cronbach's alpha, Pearson correlation coefficients, and factor analysis with the SPSS Win 15.0 program.


RESULTS
Twenty-nine items were selected to constitute the appropriate measuring scale and categorized into 5 factors explaining 63.2% of the total variance. The 5 factors were named; stages of denial (5 items), wandering (6 items), devotion (7 items), frustration (3 items), and finally acceptance (8 items). Cronbach's alpha for the 29 items was .80.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study not only suggest assessment criteria for the life transition process of parents who have children with autism but also provide basic directions for program development to provide differentiated support and care at each stage.
Department of Nursing, Wonkwang Health Science University, Iksan, Korea.
Ae Ran
AR
Lee
Sun Woo
SW
Hong
Se Jin
SJ
Ju
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003863:Depression / Q000473:pathology; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D016730:Program Development; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Autistic disorder; Parents; Scale; Transition