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Brief Report: Social Support and Coping Strategies of Mothers of Children Suffering from ASD in Kuwait

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Abstract

This cross-sectional study provides a general profile of mothers of children with ASDs in Kuwait and examines their use of social support resources and coping strategies (using the Brief COPE questionnaire). The majority of mothers reported decreased ability to perform social duties (62.4%) and take care of themselves (50.5%). Overall, 57.7% of mothers reported a decreased ability to enjoy life; this difference was more pronounced among non-Kuwaiti mothers compared to Kuwaiti mothers (p value = 0.03), and in mothers with a bachelor’s degree or higher (p value = 0.011). There was a significant association between the mothers’ ability to enjoy life and receiving support from the family (p value = 0.021) and support groups (p value = 0.003). “Religion”, “Acceptance”, and “Positive Reframing” were the 3 most common coping strategies.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the schools that helped distribute our questionnaire and the mothers that participated in the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait

    S. Al-Kandari, A. Alsalem, S. Abohaimed, F. Al-Orf & M. Al-Zoubi

  2. Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait

    R. Al-Sabah & N. Shah

Authors
  1. S. Al-Kandari
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  2. A. Alsalem
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  3. S. Abohaimed
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  4. F. Al-Orf
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  5. M. Al-Zoubi
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  6. R. Al-Sabah
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  7. N. Shah
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Contributions

SAK and AA participated in the design of the study and coordination, collection and interpretation of the data as well as the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript. SA, FA, and MA helped in data collection and interpretation, as well as writing up the methods and results. NS and RA supervised the project and provided necessary guidance to the authors. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Al-Kandari.

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Conflict of interest

This research has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The study protocol and data collection instrument were reviewed and approved by the Department of Community Medicine. The Human Subject form and the research protocol were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Health Sciences Center, Kuwait University, and Ministry of Health Joint Committee in order to preserve the human rights of participation.

Informed Consent

An informed consent was distributed with all the questionnaires. It explained the study objectives. Participants were also assured about confidentiality of collected information and that they were free to decline participation in the study.

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Al-Kandari, S., Alsalem, A., Abohaimed, S. et al. Brief Report: Social Support and Coping Strategies of Mothers of Children Suffering from ASD in Kuwait. J Autism Dev Disord 47, 3311–3319 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3225-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3225-y

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