Comparing the Effectiveness of Assertiveness Training and Logo Therapy Training on Resilience and Life Expectancy in Mothers with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Having a child with autism spectrum disorder causes many problems for the mothers of these children, including decrease in resilience and life expectancy. Therefore, the current research was conducted with the aim of comparing the effectiveness of assertiveness training and logo therapy training on resilience and life expectancy in mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder.

The current research was a semi-experimental with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up design with a control group. The research population consisted of mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder in Tehran city in the academic years 2022-2023, which number of 60 people of them were selected by available sampling method and randomly assigned to three equal groups. Each of the experimental groups underwent assertiveness training and logo therapy training in 8 sessions of 2 hour, separately and the control group remained on the waiting list for training. The data were collected with the resilience scale (Connor and Davidson, 2003) and life expectancy questionnaire (Miller JF, Powers, 1988) and were analyzed with the methods of analysis of variance with repeated measurements and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS software.

The analyzes showed that both methods of assertiveness training and logo therapy training in compared to the control group increased resilience and life expectancy in mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder, and the results were maintained in the follow-up phase (P<0.001). Also, there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of assertiveness training and logo therapy training in increasing their life expectancy (P>0.05), but the effectiveness of logo therapy training method in compared to the assertiveness training method was higher in increasing their resilience (P>0.001).

Considering the difference in the effectiveness of methods of assertiveness training and logo therapy training on resilience and life expectancy in mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder, counselors and therapists can use the more effective method, means logo therapy training for their psychological interventions.