Investigation of parents' use of daily routines and self-efficacy of parents with a child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder

This study aimed to examine the relationship between daily routine usage and parental self-efficacy of parents of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and to determine whether daily routine usage and parental self-efficacy differ according to some demographic variables. The research was planned according to the relational screening model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, and the snowball sampling method was used. 102 parents (84 mothers and 18 fathers) of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder participated in the study. As a data collection tool, the "Daily Routine Usage Checklist of Parents of Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder", "Demographic Information Form" and "Parent Efficacy Scale for Parents of Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder", which were created by obtaining opinions from 5 field experts and 1 statistics expert as a result of literature review, were used. The obtained data were analyzed according to the gender, age, age at which children were diagnosed; and the age, education level, socio-economic level, number of children and gender of parents. Descriptive statistics methods were used in the analysis of the data. According to the findings; parents' self-efficacy did not differ statistically significantly according to gender, age, education level, age at which children were diagnosed, and number of children; however, when the analyses made on the sub-dimensions of the parental efficacy scale and the usage of daily routines were examined in material terms, it was seen that significant differences emerged. The results obtained from the research were found and discussed within the scope of the literature.