自閉症児の行動異常を容易に評価できる尺度の開発―行動異常の程度と母親の健康度および疲労度との関連性

A New Multidimensional Inventory for Easily Evaluating the Severity of the Behavioral Disorder in Children with Autism: A Possible Correlation between Severity of Autism and Positive/Negative Affect of Their Mother

要旨

　自閉症児をもつ母親が，家庭で療育の効果を知ることができれば，克服感や達成感につながり，療育活動を持続する力となり得る．本研究では，児の行動を観察することにより，症状の程度を簡便に評価できる自閉症児評価尺度の開発を目指した．評価尺度は6因子(社会行動，情動行動，認知行動，常同行動，感覚異常による行動，特異な行動)で構成し，確証的因子分析の結果，適合度指標(RMSEA＝0.066)から十分な妥当性を確保していた．信頼性分析の結果，尺度全体のクロンバックのα係数は0.930と高い内的整合性を確保していた．自閉症児の行動異常の程度と母親の心の健康度および疲労度との関連を正準相関分析で解析したところ，社会行動，情動行動，感覚異常による行動，特異な行動などの程度が重いほど，母親の健康度が悪く，疲労度も大きくなることが判明した．この自閉症児評価尺度は，今後，自閉症児とその母親に対する支援方法を構築する上で役立つものと考える．

Abstract

　The majority of mothers with a child with autism are conflicted as to whether their care actually alleviates their child's behavioral disorder. Although knowledge of the effectiveness of daily care in relation to her child will encourage activism by the mother, an appropriate evaluation method also plays an important role in the treatment of such developmental disorders. In this study, we propose a new multidimensional inventory for determining the severity of the behavioral disorder, one that does not require any specific skill. Our inventory covers the social, emotional, cognitive, stereotypical, abnormal sensory, and autism-specific behavioral dimensions (ten questions each). The mother scores the severity of each item using a five-point scale. The subjects were 162mothers who had a child with autism. We determined the dimensional structure statistically using confirmatory factor analysis. The hypothesized six-factor model appeared to fit the data in all samples tested (RMSEA=0.066) and had good internal consistency, with an average Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.930. We determined a possible correlation between the severity of the behavioral disorder in the autistic child and the positive or negative affect of their mother, using the SUBI.A canonical correlation analysis revealed that there exist a significant correlation between the severity of behavioral disorder and the mental health (positive/negative affect) of mothers with an autistic child. These findings suggest that our questionnaire offers a useful tool for evaluating the efficacy of education/training at home or in school. Following up on these findings, we hope to establish a support system for children with autism and their mothers.