مشكلات أمهات الأطفال التوحديين: تصور مقترح من منظور نموذج التركيز على المهام لمواجهتها

Abstract

Abstract

The study aims to identify the problems facing mothers of autistic children through three sub-goals, which are: identifying social, psychological and economic problems. This descriptive analytical study used the social survey method. A questionnaire has been used as a tool to collect data. The sample consists of (107) individuals who were selected by the centers’ complete enumeration, and a simple random sample of schools serving the autism group in the city of Riyadh. The study reached a set of results, most importantly: mothers moderately agreeing that they face social, psychological and economic problems. The psychological problems ranked first among other problems faced by mothers, and issues related to mothers’ concern about the future of their autistic children were on top of such problems. This is followed by the economic problems, where mothers agreed on the difficulty of covering the costs of treating an autistic child. Social problems were the last ones, as husbands relied on mothers to bear the responsibility of the autistic child. The study has formulated a suggested proposal according to the task-centered model to address the problems of mothers of autistic children from the specialists' perspective using Delphi Method. Several recommendations and suggestions have been included.

Keywords: Mothers of Autistic Children -  Task-Centered Model - Delphi Method.