The examing of satisfaction levels with leisure and life of the parents who take part in walking activity and have a chilg with autism spectrum disorder

There have been ongoing researches from multiple angles regarding individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families. The goal of this study is to identify the leisure and life satisfaction levels of parents who had a child with ASD takes part in "walking" as their leisure activity and the relationship between these levels. There was a total of 87 participants for this research made up of 33 males and 54 females, all living in the city of Ankara with a child with ASD under their care. In this research, Leisure Satisfaction Scale (LSS) developed by Beard & Raghed (1980) and adapted into Turkish by Gökçe & Orhan (2011) and Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) developed by Diener etal. (1985) and adapted into Turkish by Yetim (1991) were used. According to the findings; in the MANOVA test results based on the "gender", "age", "education" and "income" variables, there was a significant difference in the LLS total score (p<0,05). In the ANOVA test results based on the "age" and "income" variables SWLS scores also showed a noticeable difference. Applying Pearson's R to the LSS and SWLS scores to determine their relation yielded the result of a low-level positive correlation. In conclusion; it was deduced that leisure satisfaction changed based on the participants' demographic information and as their leisure satisfaction levels were raised their life satisfaction levels rose with it. Key Words: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Leisure Satisfaction, Life Satisfaction, Parents.