The Daily Occupational Experiences and Subjective Well-Being of Mothers of Children with ASD
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Hsieh, Ya-Lin
Abstract
Mothers of children with autism may have different occupational experience from mothers of typical children due to their children’s unique characteristics. They may lack of rest and experience more frustration and unpleasant affection than the mothers of typical children. Therefore, their subjective well-being (SWB) may be affected. However, there are limited evidences to support this hypothesis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occupational experiences of mothers of children with autism and the relationship between their daily occupational experiences and SWB levels. The relationships between mother’s SWB levels and their child’s occupational participation level and developmental level were also investigated.
Forty mothers with a child aged between 2~ 6 with a diagnosis of autism were recruited from the rehabilitation department of hospitals or developmental centers in Taipei area. Another forty mothers with a typical child of the same age range were recruited as a comparison group. All the mothers recorded their daily occupations with a diary-log for one week and rated the levels of productivity, restoration and pleasure they experienced during each occupation. The mothers’ SWB levels were then measured with the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The daily occupational experiences and SWB levels of the two groups of mothers were compared by using independent t tests. In addition, children’s occupational participation level and developmental level were evaluated by Pediatric Daily Occupational Scale (PDOS) and Chinese Child Development Inventory (CCDI) respectively. The relationships between mothers’ SWB levels and their daily occupational experiences, and children’s occupational participation and developmental level were analyzed further by using Pearson’s product-moment correlation and stepwise regression analyses.
The results showed that, comparing with the mothers of typical children, mothers of children with autism experienced less restoration and pleasure in their daily occupations, and their levels of SWB were lower also. As to the relationship between mothers’ SWB levels and their daily occupational experiences, and children’s occupational participation and developmental level, mothers’ pleasure and restoration level experienced during daily occupation related positively to their affective and cognitive SWB levels, and the pleasure experience level was the best predictor of SWB. The children’s occupational participation and developmental levels were not related to mothers’ SWB.
Due to the unpredictability of the performance of children with autism, their mothers might experience less restoration and pleasure during their daily occupations and this then affected their SWB. The findings of this study suggested that mothers might improve their SWB levels by consciously arranging more occupations in which they could experience more pleasant affections. The results of this study would increase the health care professionals’ sensitivity to the SWB of mothers of children with autism and provide imperative support to them.
Subjects
Occupational experience
Subjective well-being
Autism
Mother
Type
thesis
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
ntu-98-R96429006-1.pdf
Size
23.32 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):cb6f41c35f44481e3d6323683be79697