Effects of a Web-Based Parent–Child Physical Activity Program on Mental Health in Parents of Children with ASD

Mengxian Zhao, Yonghao You, Shihui Chen, Linlin Li, Xiru Du and Yongtai Wang
Additional contact information
Mengxian Zhao: School of Physical Education, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Yonghao You: Department of Sports Science, Hefei Normal University, Hefei 230061, China
Shihui Chen: Department of Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, Texarkana, TX 75503, USA
Linlin Li: School of Sports Social Science, Shandong Sport University, Jinan 250102, China
Xiru Du: College of Sport Arts, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou 510500, China
Yongtai Wang: College of Health Sciences and Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-17

Abstract: Parents of children with ASD experience a higher incidence of mental health difficulties, including stress, depression, and anxiety, than parents of children without ASD. According to studies related to ASD, parent–child physical activity programs are an effective approach to encourage both parents and their children with ASD to exercise together, thus improving the mental health of parents due to this interactive family activity. The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of this web-based parent–child physical activity program on the mental health of parents of children with ASD. A total of 94 parent–child pairs consented to participate in this study, and 75 parent–child pairs completed the study. Three instruments—DASS-21, PSI-4-SF, and WHOQOL-26—were used to measure mental health, parental stress, and quality of life, respectively. A randomized controlled trial design was implemented to examine the effectiveness of the 10-week web-based parent–child physical activity program on improving the mental health of parents of children with ASD. The results showed that after the 10-week parent–child physical activity program, there were significant differences in overall DASS-21 and PSI-4-SF for the experimental group, compared with control group ( p < 0.05), which indicated that the parent–child physical activity program has a positive influence on mental health in parents of children with ASD. One sub-area of WHOQOL-26 between the experimental and control groups across pre-/post-testing intervals also showed greater reductions in the item of psychological health ( p < 0.05). In conclusion, the findings demonstrated the efficacy of the web-based parent–child physical activity program for improving mental health in parents of children with ASD.

Keywords: mental health; depression; anxiety; autism; parent–child dyadic approach; web-based physical activity; social interaction; quality of life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/12913/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/12913/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:12913-:d:697184

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().