Quality of Life of Parents of Filipino Children with Special Needs

Abstract

Children with special needs (CWSN) experience disability in various areas. The birth of a childwith special needs causes stress in the family, most especially among parents, consequentlyaffecting parental quality of life (QOL).This paper describes the QOL of parents of Filipino CWSN and examined the determinants ofparental QOL using a mixed method design. The participants are parents of Filipino CWSN(n=76) and were asked to answer the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief(WHOQOL-BREF) Questionnaire Filipino Version. Interviews were also conducted among asub-sample of the parents who answered the questionnaire earlier (n=6).Results indicate that parental educational attainment, annual income, child’s comorbidconditions and length of time in therapy are the best indicators of parental QOL, as parents ofFilipino children with special needs express and exhibit negative stresses that affect their lives.The researcher recommends family intervention programs that take into account theaforementioned variables and parental advocacy.