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Self-reported Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) and Anxiety Among Greek School-Age Siblings of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in Relation to Parental Mental Health and Social Support

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Abstract

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) and anxiety were measured in 233 school-age siblings of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and siblings of Typically Developing (TD) children in Greece. The aim of the study was to investigate for any association between siblings’ HRQOL or anxiety and parental mental health, perceived social support as well as major demographic factors. It was found that the disability group (ASD-sibs) showed elevated anxiety levels and poorer HRQOL than controls. In hierarchical multiple regression models, the anxiety of ASD-sibs was significantly associated with parental anxiety independent of parental perceived social support and demographic factors, whereas the HRQOL of ASD-sibs was associated with perceived social support independent of parental physical and mental health and demographic factors.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all participating families and children, as well as ASD institutions, and public school teachers for their support with this study. The authors are also grateful to the Developmental Disorders Clinic, Department of Child Psychiatry, Papanikolaou Hospital of Thessaloniki and Dr. Athanasopoulou Evangelini for their contributions to recruitment. Thanks to Dr. Elias Andreoulakis for statistical consultation.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and publication of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Primary Education, Special Education Laboratory, University of Ioannina, 45110, Ioannina, Greece

    Evangelia Koukouriki

  2. Amalias 24, 42132, Trikala, Greece

    Evangelia Koukouriki & Sryridon-Georgios Soulis

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  1. Evangelia Koukouriki
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  2. Sryridon-Georgios Soulis
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection, analysis and interpretation were performed by E.K. The first draft of the manuscript was written by E.K. and G.S.S. commented on the final version of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Evangelia Koukouriki.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Ioannina, Human Research Ethics Committee, and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed verbal and written consent was obtained for all individual participants included in the study.

Informed Consent

Verbal consent was obtained for all children (9–13 years) then written consent was obtained from their parent or legal guardian. No data was collected in instances that children indicated objection to participation, even in instances of parental consent.

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Koukouriki, E., Soulis, SG. Self-reported Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) and Anxiety Among Greek School-Age Siblings of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in Relation to Parental Mental Health and Social Support. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 2913–2930 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04395-6

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