Effectiveness of positive psychology-based training on hardiness and emotional balance in mothers of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Aim. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of positivist psychological education on the hardiness and emotional balance in mothers of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods. The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all mothers of children with ADHD who were referred to the Atiyeh’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Center in Tehran during the years 2017-2018 for the treatment of their children. 28 mothers were selected using convenience sampling and randomly assigned to either experiment (13) or control (15) groups. The experiment group participated in 10 sessions (once a week, 120 minutes each session), while the control group did not participate in these sessions. To collect information, the Kobasa Hardship Questionnaire (1979) and PANAS Affections (1988) were used. Data were analyzed using one-variable and multivariate covariance analysis using SPSS25 software. Results. The results of this study showed that education based on positive psychological concepts led to a significant increase in the degree of hardiness and its components (except the challenge, (P>0. 05)), positive emotions and negative emotional loss in mothers of children with ADHD (P<0.05). Conclusion. According to the findings, the use of a positive-psychological education program to promote hardiness and increase the positive excitement of mothers of children with ADHD with the goal of their psychological immunization is suggested.