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

• Published in: Journal of Health and Translational Medicine
• Main Author: Shalihin S.A.S.; Ilias K.; Amin N.A.; Che Daud A.Z.; Mohammad Alsabbah S.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85172184840&doi=10.22452%2fjummec.sp2023no2.8&partnerID=40&md5=c331ca5778e644b7272123d971cabd7a

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. © 2023, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. All rights reserved.