title: Quality of life among parents of children with autistic disorder: a sample from the Arab world.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A growing body of research has sought to examine issues associated with the Quality of Life (QoL) of parents of children with Autistic Disorder. However, no studies have examined the QoL of Arab parents whose parenting experience is expected to be substantially different from that of their western counterparts. Therefore, the purposes of this study were: (1) to examine differences in the QoL between fathers and mothers of children with Autistic Disorder in a sample from an Arab country, and (2) to examine the psychosocial correlates of the QoL of Arab parents of children with Autistic Disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-administered questionnaires on parents' QoL, stress, coping strategies, and demographic characteristics were completed by 184 parents of children with Autistic Disorder. The participants were recruited using the convenience sampling design.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fathers and mothers of children with Autistic Disorder showed no significant differences in their physical, psychological, social, and environmental health. Further, both parents showed almost similar bivariate correlations between the reported QoL levels and their parenting stress, coping strategies, and demographic characteristics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to examine the QoL of parents of children with Autistic Disorder in the Arab world and, in doing so, it highlighted the distinct lack of research in this area. The QoL of Arab parents of children with Autistic Disorder crosses lines with their stress levels, coping strategies, demographic characteristics, and to some extent their cultural context.
authors: Faculty of Nursing, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan. Electronic address: l.dardas@ju.edu.jo.
authors: Latefa A
authors: LA
authors: Dardas
authors: Faculty of Nursing, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan. Electronic address: mma4@ju.edu.jo.
authors: Muayyad M
authors: MM
authors: Ahmad
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018912:Arabs / Q000523:psychology*; D001321:Autistic Disorder; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007597:Jordan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Arabs; Autistic Disorder; Caregivers; Parents; Quality of Life