Mental health issues, parenting challenges and evidence on the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder to promote their well-being and quality of life: A review

Parents and caregivers of autistic children face various challenges and hardships and the majority of them reported high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression in parenting their kids. Current evidence shows the benefits of mindfulness strategies for parents of autistic children to reduce their psychological distress and enhance their well-being and quality of life. This review highlighted the findings from various studies related to the parenting challenges and mental health issues of parents of children and adolescents with ASD and evidence on the effectiveness of Mindfulness Interventions for these parents. This review included various aspects of challenges and mental health issues faced by parents of children with ASD and the current evidence on Mindfulness Interventions to reduce their psychological distress to promote psychological well-being, and quality of life and enhance mindful parenting in the context. Research evidence from various studies has given the importance of mindfulness for parents of children and adolescents to improve their psychological well-being and quality of life and reduce psychological distress in these parents. These techniques could enhance their resilience, self-efficacy, and self-compassion for parenting their kids. From this review, it can be concluded that MBIs are well-established stress reduction techniques and are effective in parents for their well-being. MBIs are promising techniques for Indian parents in providing compassionate, non-judgmental awareness of their child's condition empowering them with positive attitudes and overcoming their parenting challenges associated with having a child with a disability.