Interference of the Communicative Profile of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders upon the Quality of Life of Their Mothers

Background: According to the World Health Organization, quality of life is defined as the perception an individual has on his/her position within the cultural context and the system of values in which he/she is contained. This perception is intrinsically related to the objectives, expectations, patterns, and concerns of such individual.We know that when a member of a family is assailed by an ailment, the quality of life of all of those who surround him/her suffer a strong impact. One of the great concerns of the families regarding the development of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the lack or impairment of the child's speech.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to analyze the interference of the communicative profile of children with ASD upon the quality of life of their mothers

Methods: This was a transversal study. The sample was obtained from 41 mothers of children diagnosed with ASD by a multi-disciplinary team: the mothers were divided in two groups: 20 mothers of non-verbal children-GASD-NV; and 21 mothers of verbal children-GASD. We applied the WHOQOL-Bref questionnaire to score and analyze the quality of life of these mothers.

Results: There was no significant difference in the maternal perception related to the domains that reflected quality of life which we compared between these two groups of mothers. In both groups we observed high indexes of insatisfaction.

Conclusions: We verified that the quality of life of the mothers of children with ASD were affected, regardless of the communicative profile of the child.