title: Family Quality of Life of South African Families Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
abstract: This article describes the family quality of life among families who are raising a young child with autism spectrum disorder. Survey research was conducted with 180 families of children with autism spectrum disorder who were receiving disability-related services in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The principle measure used was the Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale to assess five subdomains: family interaction, parenting, emotional well-being, material/physical well-being, and disability-related support. Results indicated that families felt the most satisfied with disability-related support and the least satisfied with the family's emotional well-being. Family income, family type, and the severity level of autism were significantly associated with how satisfied families felt about their quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. liezl.schlebusch@up.ac.za.
authors.forename: Liezl
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5990-3114
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schlebusch
authors.affiliation: Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
authors.forename: Shakila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dada
authors.affiliation: Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.|CHILD, School of Education and Communication, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Alecia E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Samuels
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D013019:South Africa
keywords: Appraisal of family income; Autism; Child characteristics; Emotional well-being; Family characteristics; Unified theory of family quality of life