Coping Strategies of Mothers of Children with Autism: a Qualitative Study

Objective: Mothers as a family member are more affected by a child with autism than other family members and react differently to this disorder. Therefore, this study was formed to study the coping reactions of mothers of children with autism Materials & Methods: This research was conducted using a qualitative method of conventional content analysis. Participants included 33 mothers of children with autism with an average age of 7 years in Yazd province (Iran). These individuals were selected by purposive sampling method and then interviewed in a semi-structured interview session. Sampling continued until data and classes were saturated. First, the text of the existing interviews was studied and the content was analyzed word for word and sentence by sentence. By extracting the categories and markers in the text, an attempt was made to achieve the desired answer to the main research question by describing the opinions of the interviewees. Data were analyzed by inductive method. This process involves open coding, creating classes, and abstraction. Each category was named using words representing the content. Similar subclasses were grouped together as a class and classes were grouped together as main classes. Results: The main categories of research included "two-way adaptation / non-compliance", "self-care" and "child-centered care". The two-way confrontation of conformity / non-conformity included two subcategories entitled "expression of positive emotions and conformity" and "expression of negative emotions and non-conformity". Self-care included the categories of "individual development", "objective care burden", "mental care burden" and "experience transfer". Child-centered care was also classified as "social care", "educational care", "medical care" and "environmental care". Conclusion: Most mothers' first reaction was to express negative emotions, but some mothers have adapted to positive reactions. Mothers have both taken care of the child and taken care of themselves using a set of targeted actions. They increase their awareness and knowledge in order to take care of themselves and help their children, and try to improve their physical and mental health by participating in social and sport activities.