The Role of Spiritual Experiences and Sense of Coherence in the Quality of Life of Mothers of Children with Autism

Many problems of children with autism impose a lot of stress and strain on families, especially mothers, which affects their quality of life; therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of spiritual experiences and sense of coherence in the quality of life of mothers of children with autism.

Descriptive-correlational research method and the statistical population of all mothers of children with autism in the city of Qods in the academic year 2019-2020 were selected by available sampling method of 80 eligible individuals and the questionnaire of spiritual experiences of Underwood & Teresi (2002), Antonsky (1987)'s sense of coherence and the World Health Organization (2000) quality of life responded. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software version 24 and multiple regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient.

The results showed that there was a direct and significant relationship between spiritual experiences and sense of coherence with quality of life (p <0.01); The components of spiritual experiences (49.7%) and sense of coherence (42.4%) predict the quality of life of mothers of children with autism.

The results of the present study emphasize the importance of the role of spiritual experiences and sense of coherence in the quality of life of mothers of children with autism. Therefore, it is suggested that prevention programs, training and spiritual interventions as well as sense of coherence training be considered more