Quality of life and coping with stress among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders

Pages: 356-362
Ridhima Shukla (Amity Institute of Behavioural and Allied Sciences, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh)

Autism is a developmental disability impairing an individual’s ability to establish meaningful conversation with others. It typically, begins at an early age and as the child grow they experience various psychosocial difficulties. The more complex and severe a child’s disability is, the more it is stressful for the caregivers, also the nature of the disability majorly influences caregivers quality of life. As the primary giver is mother, this study was conducted to assess the quality of life and coping with stress of mothers of children with ASD. The present study was conducted on 40 mothers, selected purposively with definite inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results indicated that mothers perceive their quality of life as average, that is neither too good nor bad, and use a variety of coping styles to deal with the demands of caring a child with ASD. The results also indicate that use of instrumental and emotional support, acceptance, positive reframing, active coping and religion are significant predictors of quality of life. These predictors are also positively correlated with quality of life. Self blame, distraction and substance abuse are also significant predictors of quality of life. However, these were found to be inversely related with quality of life. It may be concluded that adaptive coping strategies are pertinent in maintaining healthy quality of life of mothers of children with ASD.