Challenges Faced by Parents Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Qualitative Study in Pakistan

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore multifaceted issues in parents raising a child with autism spectrum Disorder ASD. An interpretative phenomenological analysis IPA method was used to measure the lived experiences of the parents. Permission was taken from the group admin in the platform entitled Autism Resource Group Pakistan on WhatsApp, in this group parents across the country are added for the facilitation to better provide the care for their children. Online in-depth interviews were conducted with the participants. Purposive sampling technique was used for the data collection and the sample size for the current was 12 (n=12) individuals with equal number of representations from the male (father) =6 and female (mother) =6. All of them were the parents having at least a child with autism spectrum disorder. The interviews were recorded and transcribed later. After the transcription and analysis phase, different themes were identified as, psychological issues, social issues, health related issues, and Occupational or work-related issues. Lastly those who are practicing, making policies and regulatory bodies should consider urgently issues explored in this study and mentioned as themes so that they could provide proper healthcare essential services for parents and children with autism.