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. 2023 Feb 23:14:1022094.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1022094. eCollection 2023.

Quality of life in parents of autistic children: A transcultural perspective

Valsamma Eapen  1 , Lisa Karlov  1 , James Rufus John  1 , Carmen Beneytez  2 , Poppy Z Grimes  3   4 , Ying Qi Kang  5   6 , Ileana Mardare  7 , Dana Galieta Minca  7 , Laura Voicu  7 , Khasnur Abd Malek  8 , Aishworiya Ramkumar  5   6 , Krisztina Stefanik  9   10 , Miklos Gyori  10   11 , Marta Volgyesi-Molnar  10   11
Affiliations

Quality of life in parents of autistic children: A transcultural perspective

Valsamma Eapen et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Introduction: The concepts of health, illness, and disability as well as the perceptions of autism and quality of life (QoL) vary greatly across cultures and across time. This study sought to explore the interplay of culture on QoL and impact on parents caring for autistic children.

Methods: We used a transcultural dataset from seven countries (Australia, Hungary, Malaysia, Romania, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom) with participating parents/carers reporting on the Quality of Life in Autism (QoLA) questionnaire. The QoLA questionnaire is a validated measure of QoL for parents of autistic children, with Part A subscale measuring parental QoL and part B subscale assessing the parental impact of the child's autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms or features. We used the Quade's ranked analysis of covariance to determine significant differences between the countries in relation to QoLA Part A and Part B scores while adjusting for baseline differences using covariates such as parents' gender, child's age, and gender. Additionally, a post-hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction was also conducted to examine multiple pairwise comparisons.

Results and conclusion: We found that while the effect of features of ASD (Part B subscale) stayed strongly comparable between cultures, the self-reported parental QoL was most likely determined by different aspects of culture in different countries. It is concluded that while the ASD symptoms or features appear to affect parents in the same way across different countries, the parental QoL may be a culturally informed construct.

Keywords: autism; carers; parents; quality of life; transcultural.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Country-wise comparison of QoLA Part A subscale mean scores by Shalock’s eight domains of QoL.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Multiple pairwise comparisons across countries for quality of life in autism (Part A and Part B subscales). Adjusted significance using Bonferroni correction for multiple tests; each node shows the sample average rank of each country for QoLA Part A and Part B subscales.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Country-wise comparison of QoLA Part B subscale mean scores by social difficulties, behavioral problems, and personal capability.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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