The Effectiveness of Gestalt Therapy on Psychological Well-Being and Quality of Life of Mothers of Children with Intellectual Disability

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of gestalt therapy on quality of life and psychological well-being of mothers of children with intellectual disability. The research method was semi-experimental with pretest-posttest design, with control group. The statistical population of this study included all mothers of children with intellectual disability in well-being organization centers in city ofArdabil in the year 2014-15. At first, one center that was accessible was selected. Then, from among mothers with children at this center 30 mothers were selected through simple random sampling which were randomly assigned to the treatment group (15 individuals) and control group (15 individuals). The treatment group received group gestalt therapy in 10 sessions. Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Questionnaire and Quality of Life Questionnaire (World Health Organization) were used for gathering data. Data were analyzed by multivariable co-variance test. Findings confirmed the research hypothesis about the effectiveness of group gestalt therapy on psychological well-being and quality of life of mothers of children with intellectual disability. In conclusion, group gestalt therapy seems to have asignificant effect on increasing the psychological well-being and quality of life of mothers of children with intellectually disability.