Relationship between children's autism spectrum disorder and parental anxiety and burnout

Objective: To determine the association between children's autism spectrum disorder with parental anxiety and burnout in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Baqai Institute of Health Sciences, Baqai Medical University from December 2022, to November, 2023. Data collection was performed at three rehabilitation centers for autistic children in Karachi. The study population consisted of parents of autistic children. GAD-7 and Parental Burnout Assessment scales were used to assess the anxiety and burnout level among parents. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results: The study results showed that 49 (24.5%) parents had moderate anxiety while 38 (19.0%) had severe anxiety. Besides, 36 (18.0%) of them were at risk of burnout while 8 (4.0%) were diagnosed with burnout. Furthermore, gender of child (p=0.01), father's age (p=0.015) and type of family (p=0.001) were significantly associated with the anxiety level whereas father's age (p=0.036), father's education (p=0.006) and type of family (p=0.046) were significantly associated with the burnout level of the parents. Conclusion: This study results showed significant association of certain child and parental characteristics such as child's gender, father's age and type of family with parental anxiety level and of father's age, father's education and type of family with parental burnout.