Elemo Aman Sado, Can Ecem
Department of Psychology, Istanbul Gelisim University, Istanbul, Turkiye.
Play Therapy and Counseling, Sen Değilim Special Education and Rehabilitation Center, Istanbul, Turkiye.
Psychol Health Med. 2025 Mar;30(3):540-554. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2024.2440655. Epub 2024 Dec 28.
Studies demonstrate that mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience depression and are less likely to seek professional psychological help. This study examined the roles of coping strategies in predicting psychological help-seeking attitudes among mothers of children with ASD. A total of 250 Turkish mothers of children with autism were recruited using purposive sampling during their training at the autism center in Istanbul. The results showed that depression was positively associated with problem-focused coping and negatively associated with psychological help-seeking attitudes. Psychological help-seeking attitudes and problem-focused coping were positively correlated with avoidant coping. Mediation analysis demonstrated that problem-solving plays a mediating role in the relationship between depression and psychological help-seeking attitudes. When addressing the psychological help-seeking attitudes of mothers of children with autism, future prevention and intervention programs may have to take into account mothers' depressive symptoms, and how they view and cope with depression and challenges related to parenting their child with autism.
研究表明，患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的母亲会经历抑郁，并且不太可能寻求专业心理帮助。本研究考察了应对策略在预测ASD儿童母亲心理求助态度方面的作用。在伊斯坦布尔自闭症中心培训期间，采用目的抽样法共招募了250名患有自闭症儿童的土耳其母亲。结果表明，抑郁与以问题为中心的应对呈正相关，与心理求助态度呈负相关。心理求助态度和以问题为中心的应对与回避型应对呈正相关。中介分析表明，解决问题在抑郁与心理求助态度之间的关系中起中介作用。在解决自闭症儿童母亲的心理求助态度问题时，未来的预防和干预项目可能必须考虑母亲的抑郁症状，以及她们如何看待和应对抑郁以及与养育自闭症孩子相关的挑战。
