Effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on mothers' psychological well-being of children with Autism and reduction of symptoms these children

The birth of a child with autism has a huge impact on the psychological well-being of parents, especially mothers.

The aim of this research was to investigate effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on the mothers' psychological well-being of children with autism and reduction of symptoms these children.

The research method was quasi-experimental with a pre and post design with control group. The Statistical population consisted of all mothers of children with autism who referred to autistic centers in Isfahan city. In order to do the research, 30 mothers of autistic children were selected by available sampling method. They were randomly divided into two groups: control and experimental (15 in the control group and 15 in the experimental group). The experimental group received 10 sessions of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. The instruments used in this research were the Psychological Well-being Scale of Ryff and Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS).

The results of covariance analysis (by used spss-22) indicated that Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy had a significant effect on the psychological well-being of mothers. Also, the results showed that this training had a significant effect on the symptoms of autistic children in the areas of stereotypical behaviors, interactions and social communication (p <0.01).

According to the results, this method can be used to help parents' mental health and improving symptoms of autism children.