Abstract
This study investigated the association of child, caregiver, and caregiving measurements with the quality of life (QoL) in 81 caregivers (mostly parents) of clinically referred children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We used the EuroQol five-dimensional (EQ-5D) questionnaire and the care-related QoL questionnaire (CarerQol) to respectively assess health-related QoL and care-related QoL. Health-related QoL was associated with the caregiver’s internalizing problems and adaptive coping, explaining 38% of the variance. Parenting stress and adaptive coping were associated with the care-related QoL and explained 60% of the variance. Child variables were not associated with the caregiver’s health- and care-related QoL if caregiver and caregiving variables were taken into account. Findings indicate the importance of the caregiver’s mental health, coping, and parenting stress in caring for children with ASD.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders |
| Early online date | 1 Nov 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Acknowledgments: The Social Spectrum Study was funded by theSophia Foundation for Scientifc Research (SSWO project number
958). The Social Spectrum Study was conducted by the Erasmus Medical Center in collaboration with Emergis, GGZ WNB, Lucertis, Riagg
Rijnmond, and Yulius. Also, the authors gratefully acknowledge the
families that participated in the study and the graduate students and
research assistants who assisted in our research.
