L’expérience des parents ayant un enfant atteint d’un problème de santé ou de développement

Based on data from the 2015 Québec Survey on the Experiences of Parents of Children Aged 0 to 5 (QSEPC), this publication aims to provide a portrait of the experiences of parents who have at least one child with health or developmental problems. It discusses the impact of having a child with health or developmental problems on the parenting experience of mothers and fathers. This includes the pressure they place on themselves as parents, their sense of parental satisfaction, their sense of parental efficacy, and the stress they feel as a result of the child’s behaviour or difficulties. Also addressed are parents’ experiences with their marital relationship, the social support they receive, the social pressure they feel, and their use of certain parenting support services.

Although the population covered by the QSEPC is parents with children aged 0 to 5 years, the analyses presented in this publication focus only on those with at least one child aged 3 and up in the household. Since some of the issues studied are rarely detected before this age, only these parents were asked about language or speech disorder, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, autism spectrum disorder or pervasive developmental disorder, and anxiety disorder. Parents with children aged 0 to 2 years are therefore excluded from the target population.