Abstract

Background: Research has highlighted a relationship between autistic motherhood and autistic burnout, though autistic mothers’ experiences of autistic burnout have not been explored in depth.

Method: To address this research gap, we used a participatory approach, and a qualitative methodology with the aim of understanding: (1) how autistic mothers experience autistic burnout in relation to their parenting role, and (2) what support they need to prevent and recover from this. We recruited thirteen autistic mothers via social media to participate in an online semi-structured interview. We analysed these interviews using inductive reflexive thematic analysis.

Results: We developed four main themes. Theme one, “Depletion”, focuses on the contributory factors to autistic burnout. Theme two, “You have to just get up and keep going”, demonstrates how autistic mothers continued to care for and maintain their relationships with their children whilst experiencing autistic burnout. Theme three, “New realisations”, reveals how autistic burnout impacted on autistic mothers’ self-understanding and self-awareness. Theme four, “We need support too”, discusses the availability and accessibility of support for autistic mothers and their subsequent experiences of this. Findings highlight that autistic mothers’ difficulties associated with their autistic burnout are compounded by a lack of autism acceptance and understanding from others, though they felt that burnout did not impact their parenting capacity.

Conclusions: We provide several recommendations to improve outcomes for autistic mothers, including a need for increased autistic-led training for professionals, and for the development of formal, autistic-led peer support services and community groups.