WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Shatha Hassan Ali*, Besmah Mohammed Ali Ibraheem and Salah S. A. Al-Bundi

ABSTRACT

Background:Raising a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a stressful and challenging experience mayaffect all family members; however, mother being the main care giver is at a higher risk to suffer fromdepression, anxiety, psychological stress and other mental or physical problems, impacting the mother’s quality oflife. St udy objectives were to assess the prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress among mothersof children with (ASD) and to identify associated factors. Method: This cr oss sectional study was conducted inNational Center for Autism / Child Protection teaching hospital / Medical City Complex in Baghdad between 1/September/2024 to 25 / 2024. The study was conducted with a total of 210 participants. Questionnairemethod was used in the study. The questionnaire included "Socio demographic Characteristics Form" andDepression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS 21). Chi square was used for analysis. The analysis of the researchdata was performed with SPSS 29.0 statisti cal program. Results: Out of the 226 distributed questionnaires, 210mothers participated (response rate 92.9%). Results showed the overall levels of depression, anxiety and stresswere 35.7, 13.8, and 40.5% respectively. Depression, anxiety and stress lev els were significantly associated withage of mother, marital status, level of education and number of children (p=0.001, p=0.007, p=0.0001 andp=0.039 successively). Moreover child order, the presence of another family member with autism, child age ataut ism diagnosis, degree of autism and presence of other diseases show a significant association with levels ofdepression, anxiety and stress (p=0.011, p=0.005, p=0.010, p=0.0001 and p=0.002 in order). Conclusion: On thebasis of the findings in this study, there is a significant burden of mental health challenges among mothers ofchildren with ASD. The overall prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was notably high. Increasing publicawareness about autism and providing early detection and intervention s for distressed caregivers of children withautism may be helpful in improving healthy functioning of parents and the entire family.