The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy on Increasing Resilience of Mothers with Autistic Children

Autism is one of the most common childhood diseases and due to the psychological effects of this disease on caregivers of these children, attention to health promotion strategies in mothers of children with autism is of particular importance.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on increasing resilience of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder.

The research method in this study was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest with a control group. Using available sampling, from the statistical population of the present study, which included all mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder in Tehran, 30 people were randomly divided into one of two experimental (n = 16) and control (n = 14) groups. The Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) was used to assess resilience and the Children's Behavioral Problems Inventory (CBCL) scores were used to assess children's behavioral problems. Participants in the study were evaluated in two stages of pre-test and post-test using the above tools. The experimental group underwent mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) intervention for 8 sessions of 120 minutes one session per week, but the control group did not receive any intervention.

The results showed that MBCT significantly increased resilience in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder.

From the results of the study, it can be inferred that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy by increasing parents' awareness of thoughts, feelings and body senses, accepting them, describing events and not judging them and also increasing mindfulness. Awareness has increased their resilience.