"A LOOK BEHIND THE CLOSED DOOR": PROBLEMS AND NEEDS OF PARENTS WITH AN AUTISTIC CHILD AT HOME. A QUALITATIVE METASYNTHESIS

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) show a constantly increasing incidence in recent years. Therefore, a large percentage of families are faced with the care of a child with ASD. Purpose: The purpose of this meta-synthesis was to record and investigate parents' perceptions of the difficulties of caring for a child with autism at home. Material and method: The PubMed database was searched with keywords ASD, qualitative analysis, parental experience, at home support, problems at home, needs, home based treatment, parent training, parenting, caregivers. A secondary search was also performed. Qualitative metasynthesis was based on the principles of Grounded Theory. The articles included in this review were qualitative studies involving parents or caregivers of children with ASD aged up to 18 years. Results: A total of 18 articles met the criteria. 2 main categories with 4 subcategories each emerged. The first main category was the Problems faced by the parents of children with ASD at home and in their everyday life with sub-categories a) Everyday life problems, b) Personal-family problems c) Social problems d) Health problems. The second main category concerned the Needs of parents with an ASD child, with 4 subcategories: a) Need for education b) Need for support c) Need for intervention d) Personal needs. Conclusions: This meta-synthesis highlighted a significant number of problems that parents caring for a child with autism have to manage at home, as well as the needs arising from these problems.