Health of Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Intellectual Disability

Objective: To evaluate the physical health, mental health, and quality of life (QOL) of mothers with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Intellectual Disability (ID) children compared to mothers of typically developed controls (TD). Design: A Cross-Sectional Study. Setting: Psychiatric Hospital, Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Bahrain. Method: Mothers' personal characteristics, general health, QOL and functioning were documented through direct interviews. The participants included 90 mothers, 30 in each group. Result: Mothers of ASD children reported more psychological and environmental problems and received more help from family compared to mothers of ID and TD children. All groups obtained a similar score on the QOL total score and physical health score. Conclusion: Mothers of ASD and ID children scored lower than those of TD children on general functioning and global assessment of function (GAF) measurement.