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Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are a common comorbidity in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Little is known about the impact that GI symptoms have on parental well-being. Parents of 409 children and adolescents with ASD completed the GI Symptoms Inventory, Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, World Health Organization Quality of Life Abbreviated Version, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. High levels of stress were demonstrated by parents with 40.1% receiving clinically significant scores. A relationship was found between parental stress and GI symptoms. Parental anxiety and depression were found at high levels but were not more common in parents of individuals with GI symptoms than those without. Lower levels of quality of life were found in parents of individuals with GI symptoms compared to parents of individuals without GI symptoms. Parents of children with GI symptoms were less satisfied with their personal and social relationships with others. Parents of children with GI symptoms had lower scores on a measure of perceived social support than parents of children and adolescents without GI symptoms. GI symptoms are stressful for parents and future research is needed to determine how to alleviate this stress and to improve the quality of life of parents of individuals with ASD., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Quality of life (QoL) has not been studied up to now in single parents of children with cystic fibrosis (CF). We hypothesized lower QoL compared to parents living together with a partner. We explored whether single parents benefit in a comparable manner from a family-oriented inpatient rehabilitation (FOR) program provided in Germany., Methods: 260 parents of a child with CF (0-17 years), 40 of them single parents, were included. Their QoL was compared to partnered parents using Student's t test for independent samples. The positive impact of the FOR program on parents' QoL was examined in a subgroup of n = 56 parents using a 2 × 2 analysis of variance with repeated measures on discharge and 6 months later., Results: Single parents reported significantly lower QoL (M = 54.89; SD = 12.44) than partnered parents (M = 61.55; SD = 15.43; t(258) = -2.581; p = .010). Age of the child or employment status did not impact that difference. In the short term they benefit less from a FOR program than partnered parents (group × time effect: F(1) = 4.832; p = .032), but this was no longer the case at the 6-month follow-up (group × time effect: F(1) = 1.443; p = .235)., Conclusions: Single parents are at risk of lower QoL. CF care teams should help these parents in particular when it comes to accessing social support.

Frequency and relationship between child comorbid psychopathology and parental stress, quality of life (QoL), anxiety, depression, and social support were examined in parents of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parents of 152 children and adolescents with ASD completed the Autism Spectrum Disorder-Comorbid for Children, Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, World Health Organization Quality of Life Abbreviated Version, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. A series of one-way multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to examine the relationship between child comorbid psychopathology and parental well-being. A relationship was found between parental QoL, depression and anxiety and child comorbid psychopathology. Results showed a relationship between parental stress and the severity of child conduct, and repetitive behaviors. This study adds to existing literature by demonstrating the relationship between comorbid psychopathology in children and adolescents in ASD and parental well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]