The Impact of the COVID-19 Process on the Quality of Life of Children with Special Needs and Their Families: A Mixed Pattern Study

In the project, by using a mixed research design, the effects of the COVID-19 process on the development of children with special needs and their families' quality of life were examined in the context of different variables such as family burden, social support, psychological health and resilience, and the problems that families faced in this process, and the methods they used to cope with these problems. It is aimed to determine the resources they need. Findings of the quantitative and qualitative research carried out within the scope of the project, (a) As the impact of COVID-19 increases, the quality of life of families decreases; (b) that social support, parental competence and resilience play a mediating role in the relationship between the impact of COVID-19 and quality of life; (c) families' levels of exposure to COVID-19 differ according to the school level their children attend, but are not affected by the type and level of disability; (d) child level variables do not affect family quality of life; (e) the socioeconomic level of the family has a mediating role in the relationship between the impact of COVID-19 and the quality of life of the family, but the education level of the parents does not affect both dependent variables, and (f) the perceived child development is negatively affected as the effect of COVID-19 increases. Based on the data obtained as a result of the project, the development and dissemination of web-based intervention programs aimed at reducing psychological symptoms during and after the epidemic, increasing psychological resilience and social support, and coping with stress; providing psychological counseling services to families of children with special needs, online or via telephone, by family counselors working under various institutions and organizations during the epidemic; It has been evaluated that EBA and other online education platforms should be designed in a way that supports children's focus, increases their motivation and facilitates the learning of information, based on the individual differences of children with special needs, and that families with children with special needs at primary school level and with low socioeconomic status should be given priority in the services to be provided.