Investigation of the relationship between the continuity of individuals with autism in occupational therapy program and caregivers' self-efficacy, family quality of life and psychological resilience

This study was carried out to examine the relationship between the continuity of the occupational therapy program of individuals with autism and the caregivers' self-efficacy, family quality of life and psychological resilience. A semi-structured Caregiver Interview Form was applied to the caregivers participating in the study to evaluate the sociodemographic information, the caregiver's relationship about the sessions, and the reasons for not attending the sessions. The Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale (BCFQOL), the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA), the Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES) and the Caregiver Burden Scale (CBS) were used. The Caregiver Interview Form prepared by the researcher evaluates the reasons why caregivers could not continue the occupational therapy program and the relationship of these reasons with the factors discussed. According to the results of the study, between the family quality of life and psychological resilience levels (p<0.01), between family quality of life and self-efficacy levels (p<0.01), and between family quality of life and caregiving burden levels (p<0.01) significant relationship was found. A significant relationship was found between resilience and self-efficacy scores (p<0.01), between resilience and caregiving burden scores (p<0.01), and between self-efficacy and caregiving burden scores (p<0.01). In addition, it was observed that the family quality of life, psychological resilience, and self-efficacy levels of the participants who could not continue the occupational therapy session program and stated that they had a lack of time problem as a reason were at a lower level, and their caregiving burden was at a higher level (p<0.05). This is the first study in our country to examine the relationship between the attendance of individuals with autism in an occupational therapy program and the self-efficacy, family quality of life and psychological resilience of caregivers. We think that similar studies are needed.