A Study to Assess the Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Play Therapy in Autistic Children Among Parents in Selected Autism Training Centres, Banglore with a View to Develop an Information Booklet.

Dr. Juliet K Sudheer
Page No.1-7

Background of the study: Play helps the autistic child to grow, develop, learn and ultimately mature. Parents are the child’s first and best play mates. The most creative children are those who have had the parents involved in their play. Therefore, parents must have adequate knowledge and favourable attitude towards play therapy in autistic children. This study is conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding play therapy in autistic children among parents and to associate the knowledge and attitude with selected demographic variables. Statement of the problem: A study to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding play therapy in autistic children among parents in selected autism training centres, Bangalore with a view to develop an information booklet. Objectives of the Study:1. To assess the knowledge of parents regarding play therapy in autistic children. 2.To assess the attitude of parents regarding play therapy in autistic children.3. To find the relationship between level of knowledge and attitude of parents regarding the care of children with autism.4. To determine the association between level of knowledge and attitude of parents and selected demographic variables. 5.To develop an information booklet for parents on selected aspects of autism and play therapy. Methods: The descriptive survey approach was used to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding play therapy in autistic children among parents in selected autism training centres, Bangalore. Convenient sampling technique was used to collect data from the selected samples. The tool used for the study was self-administered questionnaire and a modified Likert’s attitude scale. The obtained data was analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics and interpreted in terms of objectives of the study. The reliability of the self-administered questionnaire was 0.862 and for the attitude scale was 0.910. Since the score was positive, the tool was found to be highly statistically reliable for the present study. Results: The overall knowledge of parents regarding play therapy in autistic children showed that majority of the samples, 68% had moderately adequate, 21 % had inadequate, and 11 % had adequate knowledge.  Assessment of level of attitude among parents regarding play therapy in autistic children shows that 90% of the subjects had moderately favourable attitude, 10% had favourable attitude and none had unfavourable attitude. The mean value of overall knowledge score was 18.12 with a standard deviation of 3.066; and the mean value of attitude score was 67.33 with a standard deviation of 5. 822.The stated hypothesis is: “H1: There will be significant relationship between knowledge and attitude regarding play therapy in autistic children”. The correlation was found to be -0.0763. This shows that there is relatively no correlation between the knowledge and attitude of parents regarding play therapy in autistic children. Thus, the hypothesis (H1) is rejected.  There was no significant association found between the demographic variables and knowledge and attitude of women at p<0.05 level. Interpretation and conclusion: The study showed that the majority of the samples (68%) have moderately adequate knowledge regarding play therapy in autistic children and majority (90%) have moderately favourable attitude towards play therapy in autistic children.  The study also showed that there is no statistically significant relationship between knowledge and attitude of parents regarding the care of children with autism. The study also showed that there is no statistically significant association between level of knowledge, attitude of parents and selected demographic variables such as age, gender, educational status, occupation, area of residence, number of children, monthly income, age of the affected child, gender of the affected child, birth order of the affected child, type of delivery, any birth injuries, history of neonatal infections. The obtained data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation and chi square test at 0.05 level of significance to find out the association of knowledge and attitude of parents with selected demographic variables was done. There is no correlation between knowledge, attitude and selected demographic variables.
Keywords: Attitude, play therapy, autistic children, and selected autism training centres.