‘Dads kind of get forgotten’: the mental health support needs of fathers raising a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ABSTRACT

There is a lack of support directed towards the mental health of fathers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This study aimed to gain insight into the unique mental health support needs of fathers of children with ASD, along with potential barriers and facilitators to accessing support. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four fathers of children (aged 8–9 years) with ASD. The support needs of fathers included: social support; practical support; respite; financial support; professional support; and, self-care and time to self. Guided by a bioecological framework, individual, interpersonal and community level barriers and facilitators to accessing support were identified. Understanding the barriers fathers of children with ASD experience when seeking support allows the development of interventions specially targeting their unique needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Fathers
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• support needs
• mental health
• Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the fathers of participated in this study. Monique Seymour received support through an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. A/Prof Rebecca Giallo was supported by a NHMRC Career Development Fellowship. The content of this publication are the responsibilities of the authors and do not reflect the views of the funding bodies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship; National Health and Medical Research Council Career Development Fellowship.