Hafif ve Ciddi Düzeyde Otizm Spektrum Bozukluğu Olan Çocukların Aktivite Katılımı ve Ebeveynlerinin İçselleştirilmiş Damgalanmasının Karşılaştırılması

Abstract

This study was planned to compare children's activity participation and their parents' internalized stigmatization according to the level of autism symptoms of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). 139 children aged 6-11 years and their parents participated in the study. Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) to assess children's ASD symptom severity, Participation and Environment Measure-Children and Young (PEM-CY) to assess children's activity participation frequency and activity participation levels, Parents' Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (PISMI) to assess internalized stigmatization and a semi-structured interview form was applied to the parents using face-to-face interview method to evaluate the feelings of parents and parents due to having a child with ASD, their experiences of stigma, and the effects of stigma on their daily living activities and social participation. The participants were divided into two groups as those with mild ASD (n=68) and those with severe ASD (n=71) according to the scores obtained from ABC, and all data were analyzed statistically. It was found that children with severe ASD symptom severity had lower frequency of activity participation and activity participation levels in home, school and social environments compared to children with mild ASD symptom severity (p<0.05). It was found that internalized stigmatization of parents of children with severe ASD symptom severity was higher than parents of children with mild ASD symptom severity (p<0.05). There was a moderate and high negative correlation between the internalized stigmatization of parents and the frequency of their children's participation and the level of activity participation in activities at home, school and social environments (p<0.05). It is thought that it is critical for occupational therapists to evaluate parents' internalized stigma when examining the factors affecting the activity participation of children with ASD.