Occupational performance of children with autism spectrum disorder and quality of life of their mothers

Abstract

Objectives: Limited studies were found to investigate the occupational performance of autistic children and their parents’ quality of life. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate occupational performance of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and QoL of their mothers. Results: In this study, 88 participants were selected from autism centers in Arak, Iran, 2020. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and the parent version of Quality of Life in Autism Questionnaire (QoLA-P) were used to assess the occupational performance of ASD children and their mothers QoL. QoLA-P consists of parts A which is related to the quality of life and part-B related to the problems that these children have and are related to the parents or their caregivers. Regarding occupational performance, the first priority of mothers is self-care with frequency 64.8%. The finding suggested a significant correlation between total function score of COPM and the score of part-A (r = 0.227, p = 0.033) of QoLA-P. Also, the results revealed a significant correlation between the total satisfaction score of COPM and the score of part-A (r = 0.236, p = 0.026) and part-B of QoLA-P questionnaire (r = 0.231, p = 0.030). The mothers’ first priority is self-care and, the total satisfaction and function score of COPM showed a significant correlation with mothers’ QoL.