Introduction: There are a number of factors that intensify the impacts and maximize the
stress levels of the informal primary caregiver when dealing with children with Autism
Spectrum Disorder ASD, among them: the severity of the cases, the Special services they
need, and economic and cultural factors. The TEA is characterized by the atypical or deficient
development of communication and social interaction, with the presence of a restricted
repertoire of behaviors, activities and interests. The different sources of stress resulting from
the care offered to children with ASD, when not attenuated, can boost the mental health
impacts of informal primary caregivers. Objective: To verify in the literature in a quantitative
and qualitative way what has been approached about the mental health of informal primary
caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Methodology: this is a systematic
review of the descriptive, exploratory and quantitativequalitative literature, using the
descriptors: Mental Health, Autism, Caregivers and Occupational Therapy, in English and
Portuguese, in the databases of the Cadernos de Occupational Therapy of the Federal
University of São Carlos UFSCar and the Occupational Therapy Notebooks of the
University of São Paulo USP, selecting publications between the years 2011 to 2016, in
Portuguese and English, these were submitted to the instrument Scientific Accuracy
Assessment ACC Elaborated by the researchers based on the PEDro Scale and the PRISMA
Recommendation, in order to select researches with higher methodological quality and
scientific evidences. The qualitative results were organized by categories of analysis, whose
descriptors of this research were guiding. Results: Totaling 1,837 publications from the
descriptors in the two databases, 43 selected by title and 11 publications selected by the
abstract were evaluated by ACC and only 05 publications were methodologically suitable for
this research. The importance of the discussions about the theme, as well as the results of
other researches related to the theme, stand out by categories. Discussion: From this, it is
emphasized, the importance of literary investments on this theme. Taking into consideration
that the repercussions on mental health of the primary caregiver is this informal of children
diagnosed with ASD need attention. Conclusion: Given this context, it is considered of
paramount importance that the mental health theme of primary, informal caregivers of
children with ASD be more widely disseminated in the literature, emphasizing that the
repercussions generated by caring gain large dimensions when not treated correctly. It is also
pointed out that the primary caregiver population has little information about their mental
health, since when it comes to caring for a child diagnosed with ASD, attention tends to be
directed towards the medical, outpatient and educational followup of the child, And the
primary caregiver ends up leaving their quality of life and mental health in the background.
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