Autism in Qatar: Quality of Life of the Caregivers

Abstract Background: Caring for an autistic child places significant stress on the lives of family members. To date, no study has evaluated how looking after a child with autism affects quality of life (QoL) of caregivers in Qatar or the Gulf country region. Our study is aimed at quantifying the health-related QoL of caregivers of children with autism in Qatar. Methods: We recruited two groups of caregivers of children between 3 to17 years old. The first group was formed of caregivers of children with autism from two developmental paediatric rehabilitation clinics, and the second group was formed of caregivers of typically-growing children and who were visiting a family clinic for routine medical check-up. Demographic information of all caregivers and children were collected. The Arabic version of the Short Form-36 (SF-36), which is a generic type questionnaire, was administered to caregivers in both groups to assess QoL. Results: A total of 98 participants consented to take part in the study. 56 were car...