Psychomotor development of children, stress and quality of life among caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Raising a child with a developmental disability such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a very demanding task and caregivers of children with ASD may experience higher levels of stress and poorer quality of life. Caring for children with ASD thus poses more challenges than caring for typically developing children and hence requires great ability to manage the stress and other challenges associated with caring for these children. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between psychomotor development of children and stress among caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorders, the relationship between quality of life and stress among caregivers of children with ASD and the relationship between psychomotor development of children and quality of life among caregivers of children with ASD. The study was quantitative and used a cross-sectional correlation design. Standardized questionnaires were administered to 130 caregivers of children with ASD who consented to take part in the study. Purposive sampling specifically homogeneous sampling technique was used to select eligible participants from Kampala, Wakiso and Jinja with shared characteristics. This included caregivers of children with autism aged 3-10 years and SPSS version 22 was used for data analysis. Results showed that there was a significant relationship between psychomotor development of children with ASD and quality of life of caregivers (r = .379, p=<0.001). There was no significant relationship between psychomotor development of children with ASD and stress among caregivers (r = .064, p=0.471). Additionally, there was no significant relationship between stress and quality of life among caregivers (r = -.039, p=0.657). Stress was not found to be a significant mediator between psychomotor development of children with ASD and caregiver quality of life. The psychomotor development of children with ASD significantly correlated with caregiver quality of life thus highlighting the need for more interventions that enhance the psychomotor development of children with ASD and provision of more focused support to children and caregivers of children with ASD.