Emotions and difficulties experienced by parents of children with autism: A qualitative study

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RATIONALE: This study was performed to determine the difficulties experienced by the parents of children with autism. METHODS: A qualitative method was used to determine the difficulties experienced by the parents. The sample of the study consisted of parents with 24 children with autism who met the inclusion criteria. The data were analysed by the MAXQDA qualitative data analysis programme in accordance with Colaizzi's seven-stage method. RESULTS: Total of 5 themes and 29 codes were gathered in line with the data obtained from the interviews. Five main themes of the interviews emerged; emotions experienced by parents; adaptation to family life; difficulty in social relationships; limited opportunity for entertainment/activity and financial difficulty. Parents whose income were less than or equal to their expenses particularly stated that they had economic difficulties in the transportation of their children to places such as hospitals/schools/special education. CONCLUSION: In accordance with the findings of this study, it was determined that almost all of the parents with a child diagnosed with autism experienced sadness, denial, shock, depression, self-blame in the period when their children were first diagnosed, and later accepted the disease. In addition, it was detected that parents had difficulties in family relations, social relations, entertainment/activity and economic aspects.