Knowledge levels of mothers with children aged 0-6 about autism spectrum disorder
Methods: The population of the study consisted of mothers with children aged 0-6 years who applied to the pediatric outpatient clinic. In order to measure ASD knowledge, 24 questions were created by scanning the literature.
Results: 388 mothers were included in the study. There was a significant difference in educational status regarding ASD knowledge score (p = 0.042). There was a significant difference between economic status in terms of ASD knowledge score (p = 0.026). Those who had heard of ASD had a significantly higher ASD knowledge score than those who had not heard of ASD (p < 0.001). The ASD knowledge score of those who had acquaintances with ASD was significantly higher than those who had not (p = 0.001). There was a significant negative correlation between ASD total score, age, and first gestational age.
Conclusions: Increasing the level of knowledge about ASD will enable early diagnosis and early intervention in the course of the disease and the rapid integration of individuals with ASD into society.
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Autism Spectrum Disorder (asd). Available online: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/ autism/facts.html (accessed on 20 November 2022).
2. Abualhommos AK, Aldoukhi AH, Alyaseen AAA, AlQanbar FA, Alshawarib N, Almuhanna ZA. Community knowledge about autism spectrum disorder in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022;19:3438.
3. Baio J, Wiggins L, Christensen DL, Maenner MJ, Daniels J, Warren Z, et al. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years - Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2014. MMWR Surveill Summ 2018;67:1-23.
4. Zeidan J, Fombonne E, Scorah J, Ibrahim A, Durkin MS, Saxena S, et al. Global prevalence of autism: a systematic review update. Autism Res 2022;15:778-90.
5. Daniels AM, Mandell DS. Explaining differences in age at autism spectrum disorder diagnosis: a critical review. Autism 2014;18:583-97.
6. Sicherman NLG, Tavassoli T, Buxbaum J. Grandma knows best: family structure and age of diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Autism 2018;22:368-76.
7. Lyall K, Ashwood P, Van de Water J, Hertz-Picciotto I. Maternal immune-mediated conditions, autism spectrum disorders, and developmental delay. J Autism Dev Disord 2014;44:1546-55.
8. Anwar MS, Tahir M, Nusrat K, Khan MR. Knowledge, awareness, and perceptions regarding autism among parents in Karachi, Pakistan. Cureus 2018;10:e3299.
9. Jones SC, Akram M, Gordon CS, Murphy N, Sharkie F. Autism in Australia: community knowledge and autistic people's experiences. J Autism Dev Disord 2021;51:3677-89.
10. Stronach S, Wiegand S, Mentz E. Brief Report: Autism knowledge and stigma in university and community samples. J Autism Dev Disord 2019;49:1298-302.
11. Kuzminki R, Netto J, Wilson J, Falkmer T, Chamberlain A, Falkmer M. Linking knowledge and attitudes: determining neurotypical knowledge about and attitudes towards autism. PLoS One 2019;14:e0220197.
12. Yu L, Stronach S, Harrison AJ. Public knowledge and stigma of autism spectrum disorder: comparing China with the United States. Autism 2020;24:1531-45.

Copyright (c) 2023 The European Research Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Downloads
Article Information
- Article Type Research Article
- Submitted February 21, 2026
- Published July 3, 2023
- Issue Vol. 9 No. 4 (2023)
- Section Research Article