Examination of the depression, health anxiety and burnout levels of the mothers of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum in the COVID-19 process and comparison with the mothers of healthy children

The aim of the study is to compare the depression, health anxiety, and burnout levels of mothers with autistic children during the COVID-19 process and mothers of children with normal development. COVID-19 disease emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and this disease was reported as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the diagnosis of the disease, many general and personal symptoms have been identified, and the generally defined symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, and taste changes. This virus, which has affected the whole world, has also led children and caregivers with special needs to a difficult process. This study was conducted with mothers of 60 children diagnosed with ASD and 80 normally developing children. Beck Depression Scale, Health Anxiety Scale, and Maslach Caregiver Burnout Scale were used in the study. In our study, dependent variables (depression, health anxiety, and burnout) were compared with mothers of children diagnosed with autism and mothers of children with normal development. During the COVID-19 process, the depression, health anxiety, and burnout levels experienced by the mothers of children with ASD were found to be higher, and significant differences were found compared to the mothers of healthy children. In conclusion, in this study comparing two groups, the scores of depression, burnout, and health anxiety in the mothers of children diagnosed with autism were examined and it was concluded that mothers of autistic kids have higher results. In addition, the child's gender does not correlate with the scales. The working status of the mother during the pandemic period has no effect on depression, health anxiety, and burnout scores as well. Keywords; Autism, Depression, Health Anxiety, COVID-19, Burnouts, Mothers