Brief Report: Social Support and Coping Strategies of Mothers of Children Suffering from ASD in Kuwait.

McIntyre et al. (2017) gave a short survey to Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti mothers who have a child with autism. They asked how much the mothers enjoy life and what kinds of support they use.

The team looked at family help, friend help, and formal support groups. They wanted to see which supports went hand-in-hand with higher life enjoyment.

Kuwaiti mothers said their life enjoyment was hurt less than non-Kuwaiti mothers did. Mothers who used both family help and group support reported the best life enjoyment.

Support was the key link. More support meant more joy, no matter where the mother was born.

Lamba et al. (2022) asked expat mothers in the UAE the same kind of questions. They also found peer support groups were the top asset, even when mothers first struggled to find services. The two studies act as conceptual replications across the Gulf.

Al-Janabi et al. (2025) went further in Iraq. They surveyed both mothers and fathers and showed mothers again report lower quality of life. Their larger sample extends Kuwait’s hint that mothers are the higher-risk parent.

Shu et al. (2005) seems to clash at first. Their 10-week support group trial did not lift mental health scores. But the study tested a short, fixed program, while Kuwait recorded naturally occurring, ongoing support. The contradiction fades when you see that steady, self-chosen help beats a brief class.

You can’t change a family’s nationality, but you can plug mothers into steady support right away. Start a monthly parent circle, invite extended family, and keep it running. The Kuwait data say this mix predicts life enjoyment more than any paper exercise.