The Effect of Group Based Hope Therapy on Resiliency of Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder has been characterized by problems in social function, communication and having repetitive and stereotype behaviors. Due to ample problems of such children, families and particularly mothers suffer from tensions and psychological pressures. The present research was designed and conducted by the aim of investigating the effect of group based hope-therapy on resiliency of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder.
The present research was a semi-experimental intervention which was conducted by using a pretest-posttest with control group design. The research population included all the mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder visiting Nedaye-Asr rehabilitation center (specialized for autism children) in Tehran in 2016 whose children were diagnosed to have autism disorder by psychiatrist, pediatrician and clinical psychologist. 30 mothers with autistic children who gained the lowest scores in Connor- Davidson Resiliency Scale (2003) and possessed lower resiliency, were selected by available sampling method and were assigned into experiment and control groups through random assignment. After taking the pretest, subjects of the experiment group received 8 sessions of group based hope-therapy, while the control group were put in the waiting list. After finishing the sessions, the participants of both groups were again evaluated by the questionnaire. The research data were analyzed by univariate covariance analysis test (ANCOVA) and by using SPSS v18. R
esults: Results of the data analysis indicated that in the posttest stage, there was a significant different between the participants of experiment and control groups concerning their resiliency level. In another words, the group based hope-therapy sessions enhanced resiliency among the mothers of autistic children.
Based on the research results, the effect of hope-therapy on the resiliency of mothers of children with autism was confirmed. It is recommended that the centers specialized for autistic children across Iran would use the hope-therapy interventional package for the purpose of reducing psychological problems and enhancing mental health of parents of these children.