The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment training on improving the quality of life and self-compassion of the mothers of educable disabled children

The present research aimed at examining the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment group therapy on improving the quality of life and self-compassion of mothers with educable disabled children. The present study was quasi-experimental with the pre-test, post-test with control group, including follow-up stage after 45 days. For this purpose, among the care centers of the educable disabled children, the two Shamim and Saadat Centers were chosen. Among mothers of these children, the mothers who obtained lower scores (according to the standard cut-off point) in the scales of the quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) and self-compassion. By purposive sampling method, 30 people were assigned into the two experimental (N=15) and control (N=15) groups. Then, the members of the experimental group participated in 90 mines 8 sessions of group training based on acceptance and commitment therapy. After finishing the training sessions, the questionnaires were conducted on both groups, again. The data were analyzed through the analysis of variance with repeated measures. Due to the effect of group training of acceptance and commitment therapy, the results showed significant differences between the scores of the experimental, control group and further, the follow-up stage on the quality of life and self-compassion. According to results, we could conclude that the group training of acceptance and commitment therapy can be used as an easy, low-cost and effective method with a vast applicability on improving the quality of life and self-compassion of mothers with educable disabled children.