Perceived caregiver’s burden among children with autism spectrum disorder in central Nepal: a cross-sectional study

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the most common childhood neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by an atypical social and communicative functioning and restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour activities. Caring for children with ASD is challenging for both parents and their caregivers. This study aims to explore the psychosocial burden of the caregivers of children with ASD. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY: An analytical cross-sectional study was performed in Centre for Autism in Kathmandu, Nepal. The enrolment occurred between January 2022 and July 2022 among the caregivers of children with ASD. One hundred twenty caregivers in contact with the centre was evaluated using the Zarit Burden Interview-22 during the study period meeting inclusion criteria. RESULTS: Our study showed that majority of caregivers among child with ASD were mothers 65 (54.16%, n=65) followed by grandparents 35 (29.16%, n=35) and father 13 (10.8%), respectively. Among them, most of the caregivers perceived moderate to severe burden 57 (47.5%) followed by mild to moderate burden 45 (37.5%) and only 7 (5.8%) of the caregivers perceived severe burden during the study which was found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted the fact that although most of the caregivers perceived moderate to severe burden while caring a child with ASD. The degree of burden significantly correlated with the level of ASD in the child.