Economical burden and parental stress on families of children with cerebral palsy

Abstract

Parent quality of life refers to the degree to which parent of individuals of children with disabilities are able to meet their basic needs, enjoy time together, and pursue leisure interests and activities. Children with ASD causes stress in the family, most especially among parents, consequently affecting parental quality of life (QOL). This paper describes the QOL of parents and behavioural aspects of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) by using a quantitative method design. The participants are parents of children with ASD (n=153) and were asked to answer the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) Questionnaire Bengali Version and The Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form (NCBRF). The WHOQOL-BREF was used to assess parental QOL while the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form (NCBRF) was used to assess the child’s social behavior/ competence and problem behavior, demographic data were also obtained. The result indentified the significant association between parents quality of life (physical domain, psychological domain, social domain and environment domain) with all the characteristics of children with ASDs problem behavior as conduct problem, anxious, hyperactive, stereotypic and self isolated. The result showed that positive weak correlation between parent’s quality of life (physical health, psychological, social relationships and environment) with children with ASD’s social behavior (0 <rs<0.25). For the problem behavior (conduct problem, insecure, hyperactive, self injury and overly sensitive) of the children with ASD showed the positive correlation with respondent four domains of quality of life except self-isolation. Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), Behavior and Quality of Life (QoL).