Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of life and its related factors among caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorders.

Methods: The study was performed in the department of child and adolescent psychiatry of Sfax and included eighty caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorders. The short form-36 health survey questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life among the caregivers. To evaluate the severity of autism spectrum disorders, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale was used. The anxiety rating scale of Hamilton and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were used to assess anxiety and depression among them.

Results: Impaired quality of life was found in 60.7% of the caregivers. The quality of life was more impaired among younger children and those undergoing a speech therapy.

Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate the effect of both children young age and speech therapy on quality of life, and emphasize the link between anxiety, depression and impaired quality of life among caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorders. It reiterate the need for early interventions which assist parents in better managing feelings of depression and anxiety.

Keywords: Quality of Life; Autism; Caregivers

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Citation

Citation: Leila Cherif., et al. "Quality of Life in Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Tunisian Study". Acta Scientific Paediatrics 3.12 (2020): 03-08.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Leila Cherif., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.