Is there a difference in the quality of life assessment between parents of children with developmental disabilities and parents of children without developmental disabilities: A meta-analysis

Abstract

This meta-analysis was conducted with the aim of integrating the results of individual studies concerning differences in subjective quality of life assessment of parents of children with developmental disabilities and parents of children without developmental disabilities or the general population. The meta-analysis was conducted on a sample of 14 individual studies and covered 2088 parents of children with developmental disabilities and 783 parents of children without disabilities across seven studies, while the remaining seven studies were compared against standards based on results for the population without disabilities for a given geographical area. The standardized difference score between arithmetic means is d=0.24 and points to a statistically significant difference of low intensity between parents of children with developmental disabilities and parents of children without developmental disabilities or population without disabilities in terms of the subjective quality of life assessment (z=-2.06, p= 0.039) with the quality of life rated lower by parents of children with developmental disabilities. Within the group of parents of children with developmental disabilities no difference in the quality of life assessment was established between mothers and fathers. The results of the study indicate the need for developing better and more focused interventions aimed at providing support and assistance to this group. However, it should be kept in mind that this study has methodology-related limitations and future researchers are therefore advised to address the shortcomings of this study in order to improve the quality and validity of results.