Fathers of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Literature Review

Objectives: The involvement of parents in raising children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is crucial for both the child’s development and family functioning. However, studies relating to parental involvement in parenting children with ASD mainly focus on the mother’s perspective, resulting in a lack of understanding of the father’s role. On the other hand, the father involvement in parenting plays a vital role in children, partners, and family dynamics. Methods: The current research is a literature review utilizing a database called Scopus. The main objectives of the paper are to examine predictors of father involvement in parenting children with ASD and to provide an overview of fathers’ experiences in raising children with ASD. Results: A total of 100 articles were found. After the screening and review process, 21 articles were included in the main review. The literature review found that studies relating to father involvement in parenting children with ASD are dominated by research on the impacts on parents and descriptions of fathers’ experiences raising children with ASD. Discussion: Therefore, it is necessary to conduct studies on the predictors of father involvement in parenting children with ASD. In addition, the majority of studies on the parenting of fathers of children with ASD examine the issue from a Western perspective, thus necessitating broader studies. The research limitations are outlined in the article. Highlights • Research related to ASD children is dominated by research that focuses on the experience of fathers in caring for ASD children with qualitative research methods. • Few studies still examine predictor factors encouraging fathers to be involved in parenting ASD. • Research related to the role of fathers in caring for ASD children is still dominated by research in the western context so that further studies are needed in a broader cultural context. Plain Language Summary Fathers have a vital role in parenting, including children with ASD. The fathers’ involvement in the care of children with ASD will have a positive impact on children, partners, and family functioning. Unfortunately, research related to father involvement in ASD childcare is still lacking to be explored. Studies related to the care of ASD children are still dominated by the mother’s point of view; therefore the picture related to the care of ASD children is still seen mostly from the mother’s perspective. This is why studies related to the involvement of fathers in the care of ASD children still need to be carried out. This research is in the form of a literature review which can be a preliminary study to see a description of the father’s involvement in the care of ASD children. The focus of this study is to examine the triggering factors for the involvement of fathers in the care of ASD children and the experience of fathers in caring for ASD children. This literature review uses one database, namely Scopus, with the search keywords “father” and “autism”. A total of 21 manuscripts studied exist in this study. Based on this study, it was found that research related to the father’s involvement in the care of ASD children was predominantly conducted in a western context and mostly referred to the experience of fathers in caring for ASD children. Few studies still explore the precipitating factors that make fathers want to be involved in raising children with ASD. Based on this, it is necessary to conduct research with a wider context and explore the triggering factors for father involvement in the care of ASD children.