Mothering a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

(1) Background: The lockdown that was forced by the Jordanian government as part of the attempt to contain the COVID-19 outbreak included extreme measures such as home confinement and the shutting down of schools’ special education centers. This study explores the experiences of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during this significant life disturbance. (2) Methods: Eleven mothers of children with ASD took part in semi-structured telephone interviews, which were transcribed verbatim and underwent thematic analysis. (3) Results: The analysis was conducted in an iterative consensus-building process to identify mothers’ experiences, concerns, challenges, coping strategies, and perceived needs during the lockdown. The main themes that emerged from the analysis were maternal stress, maternal fears, and maternal hopes. Our findings indicate that the COVID-19 outbreak greatly affected the family lives of the mothers interviewed, which required them to optimize their coping strategies and resilience. (4) Conclusions: The mothers faced significant difficulties during the pandemic and there is an urgent need to support them on multiple levels. Additionally, our findings reveal the need for more research that takes Jordan’s cultural context into account when determining how best to support children with ASD and their parents.