The examination of self-efficacy perceptions of families of children with autistic disorder

In this research, it is aimed to define the self-efficacy perceptions of families who have got children with autistic disabilities. First of all, in the research, the self-efficacy perceptions of families who have got children with autistic disabilities were studied with Parent Inquiry Form and Parent Self-Competency Determining Scale. The participants of the research consisted of the parents of the children who were attending to the Autistic Children Education Centre, connected with National Ministry of Education, and who were diagnosed with autism. In the study of the research, Parent Self-Competency Scale (PSCS) were delivered to 1109 parents, whose children were having their education at Autistic Children Education Centres, and feedbacks were taken from 418 parents, 325 (% 80) of whom were mothers, 81 (% 20) were fathers. Seven parents filled in the PSCS in a wrong way and therefore they were excluded from the research, and the collected 411 data, filled-in without mistake, were used in the research.326 (% 81) of the parents who participated in the research were nuclear family, 78 (% 19) of them were large families. As for total field under survey in the research, 325 (% 79,85) of them were male students, 82 (% 20,15) of them were female students.According to the results obtained at the end of the research; the self-efficacy perceptions of the parents were found to be generally a little bit above the average. The self-efficacy perceptions of the parents show differences according to the children?s sex, age, age of diagnosis, the time since when s/he has been having his/her education, situation of parents? being mothers and fathers, the age of the parents, the number of children in the family, and whether the family is a nuclear or a large one and whether there is any individual who needs special care.Key Words: Autistic Disability, Self-Efficacy, The Features of the Parents, Parent Self-Efficacy Perceptions