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. 2021 May 22;13(1):21.
doi: 10.1186/s11689-021-09369-y.

Self-reported psychological disorders among the mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder, type 1 diabetes mellitus, and typically developed children

Ahmed Malalla Al Ansari  1 , Mohamed Ismael Janahi  2 , Abdulrahman J AlTourah  2 , Haitham Ali Jahrami  2   3 , Mansour Bin Rajab  4
Affiliations

Self-reported psychological disorders among the mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder, type 1 diabetes mellitus, and typically developed children

Ahmed Malalla Al Ansari et al. J Neurodev Disord. .

Abstract

Background: To assess the prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), type 1 diabetes (DM), and typical development (TD), in a geographical area where such data are lacking METHOD: A descriptive study with the three groups of parents of children with and without a condition was conducted (ASD n=126, group 1; DM n=43, group 2; and TD n= 116, comparative group). Measures of depression, anxiety, and stress were collected to examine the prevalence of factors, difference between groups, and their association with demographic characteristics.

Results: On the DASS-21, both groups 1 and 2 had higher mean scores for depression (37.86), anxiety (4.58), and stress (29.81) than the control group (P=0.015). On the PSS-14, the mean score was higher in group 2 (28.63) than in group 1 (27.61) and the comparison group (25.87) (P=0.004). On the DASS 21, group 1 scored higher in the depression domain (P=0.046), whereas group 2 scored higher in the anxiety domain (P=0.034) and stress domain (P=0.009) than the TD group.

Conclusion: Mothers of children with ASD should be assessed for the presence of depression following diagnosis. Mothers of children with type 1 diabetes require careful monitoring for the effects of anxiety and stress on their mental health and therefore their ability to cope with diabetes management plans.

Trial registration: Not applicable.

Keywords: ASD; Bahrain; DASS-21; Diabetes; PSS-14.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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