PARENTAL QUALITY OF LIFE WHEN RAISING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: A NARRATIVE REVIEW

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face unique and ongoing caregiving demands that can reduce their quality of life (QoL) across physical, social, and psychological spheres.

This narrative review consolidates existing findings concerning how caring for a child with ASD affects parental QoL and identifies actionable strategies to mitigate the burden.

We searched PubMed and Scopus for English-language studies published from January 2010 to May 2024 using terms such as "autism", "caregiver", and "quality of life". Empirical studies and systematic reviews involving parents of children (≤18 years) with ASD were included; abstract conferences were excluded.

Twenty-four empirical studies met the inclusion criteria; eight additional sources are cited for context. Publications consistently reported lower overall and domain‑specific QoL scores for parents of children with ASD versus parents of typically developing children. Increased caregiver stress, reduced social interaction, higher out‑of‑pocket costs, and uncoordinated support program services emerged as persistent drivers. Interventions that combined psycho‑education, behavioural coaching, and sensory‑adapted dental or medical environments showed moderate improvements in parental mental health and QoL metrics.

Multidisciplinary, family‑centred programmes and policies that remove financial and accessibility barriers are critical to improving parents' QoL. Future longitudinal and culturally diverse studies must clarify which intervention components provide the most significant sustained benefit.