Correlation between Marital Relationship, Family Routine, Social Support, Necessities and Quality of Life of Parents and Mothers of Children with Disability

ABSTRACT: Considering the importance of families for child development and that fathers and mothers of children with disabilities can live parental experience in a differentiated way, this research aimed to correlate the marital relationship with the family routine; quality of life, parental needs and satisfaction with social support received. The research was developed with 120 participants, 60 mothers and 60 fathers of children with intellectual disability, physical disability, autism and delay in child development, aged from 0 to 6 years. The following instruments were used to collect data: Marital Relationship Questionnaire, Inventory of resources in the family environment, Questionnaire on family needs, Abbreviated questionnaire on quality of life, and Social support questionnaire. Pearson’s correlation test was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the greater the resource of the family environment the better the marital relations between the parents and the smaller the acceptance of the negative characteristics of the spouse. As for the needs of the participants, the better the spouse’s evaluation of the partner, the lower the needs of the parents. In relation to social support and marital relationship, it was observed that the more the parents presented characteristics that did not please their spouse, the smaller the social supports available to them. This study may contribute to the knowledge about the family institution, which is little considered in public policies and social projects, which persist in assistencialism and do not perceive the family as a unit.