Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health, 2025 (Scopus)
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) poses a significant burden, especially for parents, due to its increasing prevalence and lifelong care needs. This study aims to investigate caregiving burden (CB) and related factors in parents of individuals with ASD. This cross-sectional study was conducted by face-to-face interviews with 295 parents of individuals diagnosed with ASD between 2000 and 2022 in Erzurum. Data were collected using an information form including sociodemographic characteristics of the participants and individuals with ASD and Zarit CB. Data were analyzed using the SPSS v26 program. The variables predicting the participants’ CB were investigated by logistic regression analysis. The significance level was accepted as p < 0.05 in the analysis. The mean CB score of the parents was 53.5 ± 16.6. Female gender, low educational level, being a housewife, spouse not working, comorbidity in the individual with ASD, and temper tantrums were associated with high CB scores, whereas spousal support, high income level, and educational level were associated with low CB scores (p < 0.05 for all). In logistic regression analysis, age (OR: 0.955, 95% CI 0.920–0.992), spousal support (OR: 4.073, 95% CI 1.974–8.403), severe autism (OR: 2.694, 95% CI 1.398–5.192) and the presence of comorbidity in the individual with ASD (OR: 1.710, 95% CI 0.953–3.068) were found to be variables that significantly predicted participants’ CB. Parents have a high CB that is influenced by a variety of demographic and clinical factors. Trainings for parents, psychosocial support, and interventions to increase spousal support may be effective in reducing CB.