The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapyon Decreasing Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in AutisticChildren’s Mothers: Single Case Study

This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on decreasing anxiety and depression symptoms in autistic children’s mothers.

This study was a single case design with multiple baselines. According to willingness to participate in the study and having the inclusion criteria, three individual among the autistic children’s mothers were selected through purposeful sampling method. Mothers of autistic children completed Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) in the pre-treatment (baseline) stage, during the treatment (fourth, sixth and eighth sessions) and one month follow-up, and received acceptance and commitment therapy for 8 sessions, 60 minutes for each session. Data were analyzed using the improvement percentage and effect size as well as charting and visual evaluation.

The results of the analysis showed that acceptance and commitment therapy could reduce depression and anxiety of autistic children’s mothers. So, participants reported significant decrease in the assessment stages during the treatment and one month follow-up after the treatment, compared to baseline.

The results of this research confirmed effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy in reducing depression and anxiety in the autistic children’s mothers.