Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are a common comorbidity in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Little is known about the impact that GI symptoms have on parental well-being. Parents of 409 children and adolescents with ASD completed the GI Symptoms Inventory, Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, World Health Organization…

Parenting children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is challenging. Parents of such children reportedly experience high levels of stress and poor mental health. This study aimed to assess the parenting styles, parental stress, and caregivers' quality of life of children with ASD and compare them to those of children without ASD. Sixty-one and…

PWS Smart-Start is a behavioral caregiver training program developed specifically for caregivers of children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) ages 3 to 14. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the program. Thirty-four caregivers of children with PWS received the PWS Smart-Start training…

This study investigated whether sleep problem severity in children with autism spectrum disorder was associated with maternal well-being. Mothers of 234 children reported on their mental health (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale), parenting stress (Parenting Stress Index-4-SF), health-related quality of life (HRQoL; Assessment of Quality of…

The objective was to evaluate the impact of a psychoeducational program on the stress and quality of life of parents with a child with autism. In total, 20 parents attended a shortened version (SV group) of the program and 15 others a complete version (CV group). An assessment of perceived stress, parenting stress, and quality of life was…

Parents from individualist cultures (those focused on autonomy of individuals; that is, Australian) may view their autistic children differently compared to parents from collectivist cultures (where community needs are valued over an individual's, that is, South-East Asian cultures). As most research on autism and parenting has been undertaken in…

The authors examine parenting stress and coping strategies and their relation to satisfaction with family quality of life in a unique population: hearing Bedouin parents of children born with partial or total hearing loss in southern Israel. Could variables previously shown to predict families' quality of life in other populations with children…

Background: There has been a noticeable upsurge of scholarly writing and policy interest in the quality of life (QoL) of fathers raising children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, there remains a scarcity of studies investigating the complex role of the psychological and sociodemographic characteristics of those fathers in shaping…

The goal of this review is to advance the discussion regarding meaningful outcomes of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder. The rapid growth in the development and evaluation of early intervention approaches for autism spectrum disorder includes both therapist-driven and parent-mediated interventions. The majority of…

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of a parent education program on decreasing parenting stress and increasing parental confidence and quality of life in parents of Chinese American children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). A pre-, posttest group design was used in this study. A total of nine families of Chinese American…

While stress is a common experience for parents caring for a child with a developmental disability, current measures fail to distinguish between general stress in parents and the demands of parenting and perceptions of parenting skills (parenting stress). This study examined differences in "parenting stress" reported by parents of…

Background: Caring for a child with intellectual disability can be stressful. No data on the longer-term effects of cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) on parents from a Chinese-speaking background who have children with intellectual disabilities are available in the literature. This study attempted to fill this research gap by examining the…

Recent literature on the psychological adjustment of parents who have children with disabilities suggests that they encounter a range of challenges beyond those experienced by parents of typically developing children (Achiless, G.M., McLaughlin, M J , & Croninger, R.G. 2007; Brown & Pacini, 1989). This is particularly true when a special…