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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]

Objectives: This study aims to identify knowledge, attitude, and practice of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) and to identify the prevalence of urinary incontinence. Materials and methods: The method used was a cross-sectional study. Self-administered knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaires were distributed among childbearing women attending Maternal & Child Health Clinics in the East Coast region of Malaysia. Results: The findings revealed that most respondents (N = 896) had good or moderate knowledge (80.1%) and attitudes (77.3%) regarding PFMT but most of them (87.2%) still lacked practice. However, there was no association between urinary incontinence and PFMT practice. On the contrary, married women showed a higher risk of urinary incontinence. Conclusions: The practice of pelvic floor muscle training should be recommended and emphasized to childbearing women by healthcare professionals. [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]

Background: The rehabilitation program for disabled children is provided through community-based rehabilitation (CBR) services by an initiative of the Department of Social Welfare Malaysia. This long-term program needs commitment and compliance, which relates to the quality of services experienced by parents and caregivers. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of the parents and caregivers of disabled children on the CBR services. Methods: This qualitative study utilized in-depth interview sessions held from March to May 2015. Fifteen parents and caregivers who had disabled children participating in the CBR program were selected using a purposive sampling method. All recorded conversations were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Atlas.ti version 8.0. The thematic analysis was used for identifying, analyzing, and reporting the data obtained. The themes that emerged were read, reread, and peer checked until the researcher agreed on the thematic representation of the data. Results: Six major themes emerged from this study, including CBR activity, facilities, environment, communication, program impact, and management system. Conclusion: The majority of the parents and caregivers had good experiences with CBR services. However, several aspects could be given further attention to improve the CBR quality and to sustain its services for disabled children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rehabilitation for disabled children requires long-term programmes which are expensive to the family. This study aimed to estimate the cost incurred by caregivers' children with disabilities from Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan participating in Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) (Centre- Based and Home-Based) and cost of seeking alternative rehabilitation. Cost analysis using the Activity-Based Costing (ABC) method was used to estimate twelve-months' expenditure in 2014 institutional year on 297 caregivers of children with disability, aged 0 to 18 years who attended CBR. Data were collected using a self-administered costing questionnaire and presented in median (IQR). Results showed that the median direct and indirect costs, excluding medications and alternative care were nearly four times as high in Home-Based compared to Centre-Based (RM2, 376 (11,228) vs. RM608 (739) (p = <0.001). Both groups of caregivers spent a significant amount of resources on alternative rehabilitation. The high costs incurred for alternative rehabilitation is a major economic burden to the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]