TY - JOUR PY - 2010// TI - Coping Processes as Revealed in the Stories of Mothers of Children With Autism JO - Qualitative health research A1 - Marshall, Vaughan A1 - Long, Bonita C. SP - 105 EP - 116 VL - 20 IS - 1 N2 - Copious research evidence identifies the many stressors faced by mothers of children with autism. The aim of this study was to examine the ways in which coping is revealed in the content and structure of stories told by five mothers of children with autism. Narrative data were analyzed using both holistic-form and categorical-content approaches. Manifestations of coping were revealed in the macrostructures of stories. Cognitive coping strategies were particularly apparent in the life stories, which tended to focus on the emotional and cognitive journeys of the storytellers. Stories of discrete coping episodes added information about behavioral coping strategies employed in specific situations. Analysis of form, particularly of the structure of the life stories, yielded strategies the mothers employed to make meaning of autism in their lives.

LA - SN - 1049-7323 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1049732309348367 ID - ref1 ER -