Abstract
This paper reported the quality of life (QoL) of 260 Malaysian parents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and factors which influencing it. About half of these parents reported to having good QoL. The factors identified in the double ABCX model showed that perceived social support and sense of coherence (SOC) were mediated by coping strategies and had a positive direct and indirect effect on parents’ QoL. These finding reiterate the importance of social support, coping skills, and strong SOC reflection skills in influencing the QoL of parents with ASD child. We therefore suggest parents to utilize the widely available social and organization supports to gain good QoL, which is also important for the wellbeing of their child.
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Data Availability
The full data will be available in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) repository upon thesis submission by Mohd Fahmi Ismail.
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Acknowledgments
Special thanks go to the Sarawak Welfare Department and Autism Associations for connecting us with parents. Finally, our heartfelt thanks to all parents who participate in this study.
Funding
This study was funded by a grant provided by the Postgraduate Research Grant Scheme (PGRG), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Grant Number: F05/PGRG/1892/2019).
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Ismail and Safii have devised the main conceptual idea. Ismail and Saimon had designed the model, conceptual framework, and adapted to the theory. This study was supervised by Safii and Saimon. Rahman conducted data analysis using Warp PLS. Ismail conducted the project from data collection, designed the figures, and drafted the manuscript. All authors viewed the interpretation of the finding. Ismail wrote the manuscript with assistance and input from Safii and Saimon. All authors read and approved the final manuscript
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The authors declared to have no conflict of interests to the content of this article.
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Ethical approval was obtained from the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Ethics Committee (UNIMAS/NC-21.02/03-02 Jld.3 (78)) on 14th February 2019. This study was conducted in line with the principle of the Declaration of Helsinki 1964.
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The permission to conduct this study at the public and private autism rehabilitation institutions has been obtained. The researchers provided informed consents form to parents with a detailed explanation regarding research. Participation in the present study was voluntary. Researchers protected respondents’ privacy, anonymity, and confidentiality.
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Ismail, M.F., Safii, R., Saimon, R. et al. Quality of Life Among Malaysian Parents with Autism Spectrum Disorder Child: The Double ABCX Model Approach. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 113–123 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04929-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04929-6