MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY SURVEY AMONG PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM CONDITION: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Received 2023-07-07; Accepted 2023-08-29; Published 2023-09-15

Authors

  • Siti Amirah Syarafana Shalihin Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Selangor, Kampus Puncak Alam, 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
  • Kartini Ilias Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Selangor, Kampus Puncak Alam, 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
  • Nur Azma Amin Environmental Health Section, Institute of Medical Science Technology, Universiti Kuala Lumpur 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
  • Ahmad Zamir Che Daud Centre of Occupational Therapy Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Cawangan Selangor, Kampus Puncak Alam, 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
  • Saher Ali Mohammad Alsabbah Fatima College of Health Sciences, Shakhbout City, Abu Dhabi, 23647, United Arab Emirates.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22452/jummec.sp2023no2.8

Keywords:

Mental Health Literacy, Autism Spectrum Condition, Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Condition, Malaysia

Abstract

Recently, mental health literacy (MHL) research has been growing widely in the literature. However, research on
MHL in Malaysia is limited, and caregivers’ MHL is often overlooked. As such, this study was conducted to examine
the MHL of parents of children with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). This preliminary cross-sectional study
recruited parents of children with ASC from a few selected therapy centers in Klang Valley to examine their mental
health literacy. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the level of mental health literacy. Most respondents
were mothers of children with ASC, from the Malay and Muslim groups, and had a formal education up to the
tertiary level. MHL’s mean (SD) scores among 61 parents of children with ASC were 119.28 (9.52) out of 160. In
conclusion, the study showed that participants were mostly aware of mental illness. However, most participants
had stigmatizing beliefs about social interaction and marriage with people with mental illness. Additional research
should be conducted to understand further MHL and other variables among parents of children with ASC.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2023-09-15

Issue

Special Issue 2 (2023): Postgraduate Research Colloquium

Section

Research article

License

All authors agree that the article, if editorially accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 to allow others to freely access, copy and use research provided the author is correctly attributed, unless otherwise stated. All articles are available online without charge or other barriers to access. However, anyone wishing to reproduce large quantities of an article (250+) should inform the publisher. Any opinion expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not reflect that of the University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Most read articles by the same author(s)