Perceived Social Support and Quality of Life of Children with and without Developmental Disabilities and Their Caregivers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Social support and Quality of life (QoL) are important aspects of life and should be explored during the specific scenario of the pandemic. Aims: (i) to compare the perceived social support (PSS) in caregivers and the domains of QoL of the caregiver and the child with developmental disabilities (DD) and typical development (TD); (ii) to verify the existence of the association, in each group, between the PSS, and the domain of QoL of the caregiver and the child. Methods and Procedures: 52 caregivers of children with DD and 34 with TD participated remotely. We assessed PSS (Social Support Scale), children’s QoL (PedsQL-4.0-parent proxy) and caregivers’ QoL (PedsQL-Family Impact Module). The groups were compared for the outcomes using the Mann–Whitney test, and Spearman’s test evaluated the correlation between the PSS and the QoL (child and caregiver) in each of the groups. Outcomes and Results: There was no difference between groups for PSS. Children with DD presented lower values in PedsQL total, psychosocial health, physical health, social activities, and school activity. Caregivers of children with TD presented lower values in PedsQL family total, physical capacity, emotional aspect, social aspect, daily activities, and higher value in communication. In the DD group, we found a positive relationship between PSS with child: Psychosocial Health (r = 0.350) and Emotional Aspect (r = 0.380), and with family: Total (r = 0.562), Physical Capacity (r = 0.402), Emotional Aspect (r = 0.492), Social Aspect (r = 0.606), Communication (r = 0.535), Concern (r = 0.303), Daily Activities (r = 0.394) and Family Relationships (r = 0.369). In the TD group, we found that PSS was positively associated with Family: Social Aspect (r = 0.472) and Communication (r = 0.431). Conclusions and Implications: During the COVID-19 pandemic, despite both groups presenting similar PSS, there are important differences in QoL between them. For both groups, greater levels of perceived social support are associated with greater caregiver-reported in some domains of the child’s and caregiver’s QoL. These associations are more numerous, especially for the families of children with DD. This study provides a unique view into the relationships between perceived social support and QoL during the “natural experiment” of living through a pandemic.