Study about quality of life and adaptation of parents of a child with autism or Asperger syndrome: Effect of social and biographical variables and child's characteristics

Parents of an autistic child go through many periods of transition, which may be perceived as stressful. Bruchon-Schweitzer and Dantzer (1994) developed a model to study the coping behaviours, which takes into account both the stressors and transactional variables. Until now, many researches have focused on stress endured by parents and strategies used by them to cope with the disorder of their child. However, those considering the impact of autism on quality of life are not frequent. We met 160 parents who filled out several questionnaires and self-rating scales we have adapted or created for assessing: (1) information about the child and the family situation; (2) perceived stress; (3) perceived social support; (4) perceived control; (5) coping strategies and (6) quality of life. Our results provide some interesting elements for clinicians and support the already existing data: Autism puts a strain on the life of parents who, as a consequence, would need more substantial breaks in their daily life. The results also support our hypotheses: The child's autonomy, his or her school and social insertion, as well as the partnership between parents and professionals are at the root of a successful adaptation. Finally, they indicate the relevance of a program for parents focused on the management of stress and emotions, adjustment of cognitions and resolution of problems. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.