A study on depression, psychological support seeking attitude, and coping strategies in the mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder

In this study, it was aimed to examine depression, psychological help-seeking attitudes and coping strategies in mothers of children with autism. Data was collected using the cross-sectional research design from 250 mothers of autistic children aged between 25-57 years and receiving special education in a special autism center in Istanbul. The data collection was carried out using the Beck depression scale, coping with stress scale, Attitude towards psychological help seeking scale and demographic information form prepared by the researcher. All participants participated in the study on a voluntary basis, and an informed consent was obtained from each participant. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to test the relationship between the depression total score, the attitude total score on seeking psychological help and the subscales of coping with stress (avoidance, problem-focused coping, social support). Accordingly, as the depression scores of the participants' increase, their attitudes towards seeking psychological help progressed negatively. As the participants' depression scores increase, problem-focused coping style is used more. As the participants' attitudes towards seeking psychological help improves, their tendency to use problem-focused coping reduced while avoidance coping increased.