THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN COPING STRATEGIES AND STRESS LEVELS AMONG INTERVENTION TEACHERS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS IN BIEN HOA CITY, DONGNAI

Abstract

The study aimed to explore the association between coping strategies and stress levels of the intervention teachers of children with autism spectrum disorder in Bien Hoa City, Dongnai. A cross-sectional survey of a sample consisting of 93 intervention teachers assessed Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale DASS42 and The BriefCOPE inventory. The survey found that the proportion of intervention teachers experiencing stress was 36,6%; of which, 17,2% of teachers showed mild levels of stress; moderate stress accounted for 16,2%; and 3,2% of teachers registered high levels. The teachers' most common stress coping strategy is problem-focused coping (M = 2,02); then emotion-focused coping (M = 1,793); and finally the avoidance coping (M = 0,912). Notably, avoidance coping strategies showed a significant association with stress levels (r = 0,582; p-value <0,01). These findings suggest that replacing avoidance coping strategies with positive coping styles (problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping) would help mitigate the stress of teachers.