Investigation of the Relationship Between the Burnout Level of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and ASD Symptom Level and Family Needs by Regression Analysis

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neuro-developmental disorder, which manifests itself with severe social interaction and communication disorder, social behavior, language, perceptual functions, repetitive behaviors and interests in the first years of life, which continues throughout life and displays differences in the appearance and level of symptoms due to various reasons from individual to individual. It is known in the literature that the participation of an individual, diagnosed with ASD with these characteristics, in the family, has significant effects on the family and the functioning of the family. In families that have a member diagnosed with ASD, it is known that the needs of the family increase, stress sources are varied, and family functioning is affected by this situation. There are also research results indicating that this situation causes depression and traumatic stress. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the burnout levels of parents of children diagnosed with ASD, and ASD symptom level, and family needs. For this purpose, data were collected from 273 parents using the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-2-TV (GARS-2-TV), Family Needs Survey (FNS), and Parental Burnout Inventory (PBI). Based on the collected data, the relationship between the GARS-2-TV and FNS subscale scores and the PBI total score was examined and reported by hierarchical regression analysis. As a result of the analyses, it was observed that the two subscales of the GARS-2-TV and the four subscales of the FNS were related to the PBI total score and explained 40% of the observed variance in the PBI total score.