Learning with OTARC
Facing Stress: Coping Strategies, Resilience and Mental Health Outcomes…
Coping Strategies, Resilience and Mental Health Outcomes in Autistic Adults
There is consensus surrounding the poor mental health outcomes experienced by many in the Autistic adult population. While the non-autistic literature suggests that high stress represents a key contributor to poor mental health and well-being, individual resources such as coping and resilience have the potential to mitigate the negative effects of stress, accounting for individual differences across mental health outcomes. Despite emerging research showing high stress in Autistic adults, investigations of coping and resilience in this population remain limited.
In this seminar, Melanie will discuss the research conducted as part of her PhD, where she examined coping strategies and resilience, and their associations with stress, mental health and well-being in Autistic adults. A broader synthesis of the research findings will be presented, followed by a discussion on potential future empirical and clinical directions in the field.
This seminar was recorded in July of 2023
Our speaker
Melanie recently completed her PhD with OTARC and was awarded the Nancy Millis Medal for a thesis of exceptional merit. She has worked on numerous research projects in Autism such as the Australian Autism Biobank and the Social Attention and Communication Surveillance – Revised (SACS-R) study. Melanie has an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Management, and has worked in the areas of Human Resources and Special Needs Education in England and Malaysia prior to her move to Australia and into the research world.
Melanie is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at OTARC and hopes to build upon her PhD research to gain a deeper understanding of stress, coping and resilience in Autism. She also has a particular interest in strength-based constructs and approaches, and their role in the mental health and well-being of Autistic individuals.