Impacts of having Children with Autism in Malay Family of Indonesia

Background: Having an autistic child and living together may not be easy for the affected families. The families may experience and face various effects when caring for their autistic children, both physically and psychologically. This study aimed to describe the impacts of having children with autism experienced by Malay family in West Kalimantan Indonesia.Methods: This ethnography study employed participant observations, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews to gather the data from 20 Malay families who have autistic children who were selected using a purposive sampling technique. The families served as the key informants comprising fathers, mothers, siblings, grandmothers, and grandfathers. The data collected through the three techniques were then analyzed using thematic analysis.Results: The findings of this study generated five impacts categorized into themes consisting of (1) stress on main caregivers; (2) financial problem; (3) impact on employment; (4) impact on family or marital relationship; and (5) positive impact of having autistic children.Conclusions: Families with autistic children have a high risk of experiencing physical, psychological, and social problems. Thus, to improve the quality of family health, nurses, and health workers need to teach the family how to manage stress properly. They may also need to provide counseling to primary caregivers by making a deep hearing of their concerns