Mindfulness Training on Self-Esteem and Emotion Regulation in the Mothers of Children with Learning Disabilities

Learning is the most crucial process for a childchr('39')s bio–cognitive development that empowers the child as a whole. Serious learning and environmental challenges in the learning process are recognized as learning disabilities in children. Learning disorders are neuro–biological conditions that affect one or more of the main psychological processes in learning, speaking, or writing. Research has suggested that the mothers of children with special needs (e.g., learning disabilities) experience shame and deprivation, as well as more stress and depression, compared to the mothers of healthy children. Due to the special mother–child relationship, mothers are highly sensitive to childrenchr('39')s issues; accordingly, childrenchr('39')s issues are a critical source of maternal mental health challenges or inadequacy. There is a special bond between the child and the mother; thus, the childchr('39')s bio–cognitive problems could adversely impact the mother. Furthermore, the mothers of children with learning disabilities experience problems with self–esteem and emotion regulation. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the effects of mindfulness training on self–esteem and emotion regulation in the mothers of children with learning disorders.

This was a quasi–experimental study with a pretest–posttest and a control group design. The statistical population of this study included all the mothers of children with learning disorders in district 1 of Tehran City, Iran. In total, 56 mothers were recruited through outreach in psychology clinics and special schools in the area using convenience sampling technique. To calculate the sample size, several criteria must be considered. In the quasi–experimental studies, 15 individuals are sufficient per group (23); thus, 20 individuals were included in this study to observe the probability of sample dropouts. First, we performed the self–esteem and emotion regulation test on these 56 subjects. Then, 16 individuals were excluded and 40 individuals who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into the control and experimental groups. Motherschr('39') inclusion criteria included having a child with learning disabilities and consent to participate in 10 training sessions. The research exclusion criteria were absence from sessions and consuming psychiatric medications. Initially, the pretest was administered for both study groups. Next, eight 90–minute sessions of mindfulness training were provided to the experimental group. Eventually, the posttest was conducted. The required data were collected and we observed the confidentiality of the research sample data. Cooper Smithchr('39')s (1967) Self–Esteem Inventory, Granfsky et al.chr('39')s (2001) Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Kabat Zainchr('39')s Mindfulness–Based Stress Reduction program (2003) were the research instruments. The required data were collected. Finally, the obtained results were analyzed by SPSS using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The significance level was set at the p<0.05.

In the present study, 40 mothers of children with learning disabilities were divided into the experimental (n=20) and control (n=20) groups. The mean (SD) age of the experimental and control groups were 43.23(5.34) and 44.53(6.06) years, respectively. Due to the necessity of controlling the initial differences, ANCOVA was used to analyze the collected data. The related results indicated that the mean scores of self–esteem and positive emotion regulation strategies increased and negative emotion regulation strategies values decreased in the experimental group. ANCOVA findings suggested that after eliminating the pretest effect, the mean posttest scores were statistically significant in both study groups (p<0.001).

The current research results revealed the effectiveness of mindfulness education intervention program on self–esteem and emotion regulation in the mothers of children with learning disorders. Therefore, this program could be considered as a strategy for family therapists when managing special children with learning disabilities. The obtained data are also beneficial for future research directions. The study limitations were implementing convenience sampling method, limiting the research samples to the mothers only, insufficient time and cooperation required to track and evaluate the sustainability of treatment outcomes. Therefore, it is recommended to use convenience sampling method in future research studies to further generalize this research on children with learning disabilities. Moreover, it is suggested to perform follow–up tests to evaluate the sustainability of treatment outcomes. Furthermore, the effectiveness of mindfulness training on other variables, such as happiness and adjustment of mothers of children with learning disorders is recommended to be assessed in future investigations.