Perspectives on family wellbeing among mothers of children with intellectual disabilities in the Arab World.

Ghaleb and colleagues asked Arab mothers of children with intellectual disability about family quality of life. They used the same survey that earlier studies used in Israel, Australia, and Spain. Mothers lived in several Arab countries and answered questions about family interaction, emotional wellbeing, finances, and support.

Mothers liked how their families worked together; Family Interaction scored highest. Emotional Wellbeing scored lowest, echoing results from South Africa and Spain. Older mothers, mothers of more severely affected children, and mothers in certain countries reported even lower scores.

The finding repeats a pattern seen worldwide. Schertz et al. (2016) in Israel and Schlebusch et al. (2017) in South Africa also reported emotional wellbeing as the weakest spot. Milane et al. (2025) in Spain found the same with Wolf-Hirschhorn families. The new Arab data extend these surveys eastward, showing the gap is not just Western or Israeli—it is cross-cultural.

An apparent contradiction appears with Keintz et al. (2011). That Israeli study said families felt “reasonably high” quality of life. The difference is focus: the 2011 paper averaged all domains, while Alnahdi et al. (2025) separated them. When you look domain-by-domain, emotional wellbeing still comes last, so the studies actually agree.

Al-Janabi et al. (2025) in Iraq found younger mothers of children with autism had lower quality of life. Ghaleb et al. add maternal age plus child severity and country as predictors, tightening the picture of who needs the most help.

If you serve Arab families, screen mothers’ emotional wellbeing first, especially if the child has severe needs or the mother is young. Offer culturally tailored mental-health supports—group talks, faith-based counseling, or tele-therapy in Arabic. Small mood checks at clinic visits can open the door to bigger help.