This paper aims to evaluate systematically the literature constituted by research reports indexed in the data bases MedLine, PsycInfo and LILACS, produced from 1991 to 2001, about the psychosocial impact in families of children with autistic disorder. The review intends to access the influence of parental stress, as the factor affecting the direct caregivers and contributing to the occurrence of alterations in the familiar dynamic. The findings of the studies were classified in agreement with the investigated theme and categorized methodological aspects. The main topics focused were parental stress in the autistic children's families, functional communication, comparative groups concerning parental stress, family interactions, strategies of coping, resilience, psychotherapy, identification and early treatment for autism.
Autism; strategies of coping; stress; family; literature review