The effect of stress management program on mental health of the mothers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in children. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of stress management program using cognitive behavior approach on mental health of mothers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In this interventional study, 52 mothers of the children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were randomly allocated into two intervention and control groups. The general health questionnaire was used to measure mental health. In addition, depression - anxiety - stress scale (DASS-21) was used to measure stress. The two instruments were completed by mothers at baseline and immediately one month after the intervention. Cognitive-behavioral stress management program was consisted of eight sessions, each held for 90-minute for 8 weeks. This study was conducted in specialty and subspecialty clinic of Imam Reza and Hafez Hospital in Shiraz in 2012. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 16, repeated measures one-way ANOVA., and independent- samples t-test. At the baseline, no significant difference was found among the three groups regarding the means of stress, anxiety, depression, and mental health. However, there was a significant difference immediately after the intervention. In the intervention group, mean score of stress was significantly lower (12.29±4.32) than the control group (14.77±3.69) (P=0.001). Also, mean score of mental health in the intervention group (20.50±10.56) was significantly lower than the control group (33.70±12.60) (P=0.009). One month after the intervention, mean difference of stress and mental health scores was still significant in the intervention group (P=0.001 and P=0.004). Moreover, mean difference of anxiety and depression for intervention group was significant (P=0.005 and P=0.008). Stress management program had a statistically significant influence on the mental health of mothers of the children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.