Investigation of parental sufficiency, perceived social support, and parental burnout levels of mothers with healthy school-age children and mothers with school-age autism spectrum disorder and mental retardation diagnosed children

The aim of this study, it is to examine the relationship between parental self-effiacy, perceived social support and burnout of mothers with healthy children at school age and mothers with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and mental retardation at school age. Mothers of 93 autism spectrum disorder, 79 mental retardation, 212 healthy children participated in the study. The research was carried out with 384 mothers. Convenience sampling method was used in the research and the selection of the people participating in the research was carried out with this method. Sociodemographic Data Form, Parental Self-efficacy Scale for Parents of Children with Autism (PSES), Revized Parental Social Support Scale (RPSSS), and Parents Burnout Scale (PBS) were used in the study. There is a low negative relationship between parental self-efficacy and burnout levels in mothers of children with autism (r=-,268, p<0.01). There is a moderately negative relationship between perceived social support and burnout scores of mothers of children with autism (r=-,456, p<0.01), mental retardation (r=-,405, p<0.01) and healthy (r=-,473, p<0.01) children. There is no relationship between parental self-efficacy and perceived social support levels of mothers of children with autism (r=,036, p>0.05) and mental retardation (r=-,059, p>0.05). Parental efficacy and perceived social support levels in mothers of children with special needs predict burnout levels negatively and significantly (R2=,224, p<0.000). Perceived social support levels in mothers of healthy children predict burnout levels negatively and significantly (R2=,239, p<0.000. The self-efficacy levels of parents with children with autism are higher than those of parents with children with mental retardation (p<0.05). The burnout levels of mothers with a child with a diagnosis of autism and mental retardation are higher than mothers with healthy children (p<0.05). There is no significant difference between the perceived social support levels of mothers of children with autism, mental retardation and healthy children (p>0.05). Among mothers of children with special needs, working mothers have higher social support levels and lower burnout levels compared to non-working mothers (p<0.05).