A comparative study of quality of life between parents of children with Down syndrome and parents of normal children

The aim of this research was comparing the quality of life of parents of children with Down syndrome and parents of normal children in Hashtrud. So, 35 parents of children with Down syndrome and 35 parents of the normal children in Hashtrud kindergartens were selected using cluster sampling. The data were collected by performing the quality of life questionnaire (SF36) and the demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed using t test and analysis of variance test. Results showed that parents of normal children have a higher quality of life. According to these results, quality of life of the fathers and mothers of children with Down syndrome had no difference, and it was the same for parents of normal children. There was no correlation between the quality of life of parents of normal children with their level of education and economic status and there was no correlation between the quality of life of parents of children with Down syndrome and their economic status but there was a correlation between the quality of life of parents of children with Down syndrome and their level of education, normally the parents with higher level of education had higher quality of life.