ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2026
Maternal emotional distress, caregiving burden, and service access among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder: a qualitative study.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Mothers raising children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience substantial emotional distress and caregiving burden, whilst family support andaccess to services can shape how these demands are managed. Yet in-depthqualitative evidence on these public mental health dimensions remains limited inSaudi Arabia. This study explored mothers' experiences of raising a child diagnosedwith ASD. Methods: Using a qualitative descriptive design informed by a contextualistposition, the study recruited ten mothers through a specialist autism centre inMadinah and the surrounding community. Trained female researchers, all registered nurses, conducted semi-structured interviews in Arabic, each lastingapproximately 60 to 90 minutes. Recordings were transcribed verbatim inArabic; a professional translator produced English transcripts, which a secondbilingual researcher checked before reflexive thematic analysis. Results and discussion: Seven interrelated themes captured the mothers' accounts: diagnosis as an emotional rupture; disruption of daily life by behavioural challenges; learning to understand the child across communication barriers; the cumulative toll of continuous care; adaptation through acceptance, patience, and faith; family support as a buffer or added burden; and compensating for uneven service experiences. Mothersdescribed substantial emotional and caregiving demands, but their experiences varied according to family support and access to services. One account of comprehensive state support provided an important counter-case to the morecommon experience of costly or fragmented provision. The findings position maternal emotional distress and caregiving burden as public mental health concerns shaped by family, social, and service contexts. They support a public mental health response that links maternal mental health promotion with accessible, coordinated, and family-centred care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.