Social networks as a social support system: A research with mothers of children with autism

The dynamics of interpersonal communication, which are increasingly appropriated by the Internet technology thanks to the opportunities it offers, have started to be affected by and changed with the use of social networks. Such uses also affect individuals' socialization processes and individual psychology. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the perception of discrimination, loneliness, social support, and hopelessness of mothers of individuals with autism through their use of social networks. For this purpose, the mothers of 206 children with autism were reached either online or face-to-face. Demographic Information Form, Social Network Uses Form, Perceived Discrimination Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale and Beck Hopelessness Scale were applied. Data was analyzed via SPSS 24.0 software and during the analysis the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, t-test for independent groups, one-way analysis of variance, the Bonferroni multiple comparison test, and regression analysis were used. Looking from the autism perspective, the aim of this study is to determine which social media networks the mothers use and why, if their aim is to socialize, get information, relax/relieve stress, build community credibility; and to identify the relation between the frequency of their social media use and their levels of perceived discrimination, loneliness, social support, and hopelessness. According to the results, the mothers of children with autism use social networks mostly for information on autism (38.6%) and their preferred social networking platform is Facebook (43.7%). As a result of the analysis, a significant difference was found between the use of social networks for information purposes and the MSPSS family support score and BHS total score. There was a significant difference between social use and MSPSS total score and UCLA LS total score. Significant differences were found between community credibility use and MSPSS family support score and BIS total score. A significant difference was found between relaxation/stress-relief use and total scores of MPSAS and BRS total scores. A significant difference was found between UCLA LS scores according to the frequency of social network use.