A pathway to health: Spiritual health and health-promoting behaviors in parents of children with ASD.

BACKGROUND: Caring for a child with ASD presents challenges for parents, affecting their health. Spiritual health can enhance health-promoting behaviors. This study examined the relationship between spiritual health and health-promoting behaviors in parents of children with ASD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 178 Iranian parents of children with ASD in 2024 using convenience sampling. Data were collected using demographic, spiritual health, and health-promoting lifestyle questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation were used for analysis in SPSS22 with a statistical significance level set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: In this study, 46.6% of the parents were aged 30-40, and 89.9% of them were female. Doctors and health professionals (1.55) and the Internet (1.33) were the most common sources of health information for parents. The mean score of health-promoting behaviors for the parents of the study was 131.60 ± 24.42. The mean spiritual health of the parents was 86.14 ± 19.06. Spiritual health was low in 1.7% of the mothers, moderate in 71.3%, and high in 27%. CONCLUSION: This study found a significant relationship between spiritual health and health-promoting behaviors in parents of children with ASD. Parents with higher levels of spiritual health were more likely to engage in activities that support their overall health. However, a large number of parents report only a moderate level of spiritual health, which highlights the need for targeted interventions. Strategies such as spiritual counseling, spirituality-based programs, and support groups can help improve the spiritual health and health of these parents.