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Problems: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to have a notably poorer quality of life than the general population, especially during the COVID‐19 pandemic. This study aimed to analyze the association between institutional support and family support on the health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) of children with ASD during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods: A cross‐sectional study was conducted in October 2022 in a School for Special Needs in Malang City, East Java Province, Indonesia. The pediatric quality of life inventory (PedsQL) and Institutional and Family Support questionnaire were used to measure the HRQoL and support perceived by parents of children with ASD. We analyzed each component of the PedsQL and the Institutional and Family Support questionnaire. The independent T‐test was performed to analyze the association between HRQoL and perceived support by parents of children with ASD. Findings: The results showed that most participants (72.7%) were women aged 40. As many as 69.39% of participants had more than one child, and 16.33% declared they had other children who experienced the same problem (special needs children). This study indicated that the average health‐related quality of life score in children with ASD was 57.41 (9.418). The finding of this study showed a significant mean difference in HRQoL scores in children with ASD who received high institutional and family support compared to those who had low (p = 0.028, 95% confidence interval [CI] = −11.071 to 0.664). Conclusion: Institutional support positively impacts children with ASD's quality of life. Therefore, it is essential to improve the adequacy of support felt by families while caring for children with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Community‐Based Rehabilitation (CBR) services under the Malaysian Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development have provided two types of services for disabled children: centre‐based and home‐based care since 1984. A cross‐sectional study was conducted among parents and caregivers with children receiving treatment at CBRs on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, to determine the level of satisfaction with the services provided. Respondents were recruited via multi‐staged sampling, and simple randomisation at CBR level. Respondents self‐administered the Physical Therapy Satisfaction Questionnaire (PTSQ) and provided sociodemographic data. A total of 297 respondents were recruited and all the questionnaires were returned complete, making the response rate 100%. Total satisfaction scores and factors influencing respondents' satisfaction for both groups were analysed. The mean total satisfaction score for centre‐based and home‐based were 84.69 (SD = 10.01) and 75.30 (SD = 12.23; t = 7.160, p ≤.001) respectively. Ninety‐eight per cent of centre‐based and 89% of home‐based respondents were satisfied with the current services. There were significantly mean differences in the satisfaction level of respondents of different states respectively (Kelantan mean 84.92 10.83, Terengganu mean 77.49 11.16 and Pahang mean 77.47 12.93, p ≤.001). Factors associated with satisfaction were education (p =.002), occupation (p = <0.001), monthly income (p =.001) and source of income (p =.001). In conclusion, majority of parents and caregivers were satisfied with current services provided at CBR and satisfaction with services was dependent on CBR centre location and education and financial earning capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]