Psychological Distress and Perceived Burden among Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Taking care of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is extremely demanding, both physically and mentally, and can have a negative impact on the family. It takes a lot of time, effort, and patience to meet the extra care needs of the aflicted children. This often causes their parents to experience psychological distress, depression, and other mental health issues. Therefore, we designed the study to investigate the caregiver burden and psychological distress among parents of children with ASD and the associated sociodemographic factors influencing parental burden. This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with parents of 180 children with ASD in three tertiary hospitals in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A pre-validated structured questionnaire was used to collect data, and the caregiver burden was assessed using Zarit Burden Interview and scored to estimate the burden level. The mean age of the children in the sample group was 4.68 ± 0.96 years; 62.8% were boys. Nearly half of the children (46.1%) were diagnosed with ASD in the second year of birth, and comorbidities were present in 31.7%. It was determined that the burden level was significantly higher among mothers of children with ASD than fathers (p<0.01). Single parents experienced higher (p<0.05) psychological distress than those who were married. Spending long hours on caregiving resulted in poorer caregiving outcomes and increased parenting stress (p<0.05). The findings highlight the urgent need for the development of interventions and social support systems to help the parents of children with ASD combat mental health issues. The Journal of Ad-din Women's Medical College; Vol. 10 (1), Jan 2022; p 12-20