Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies and Acceptance and Commitment on Quality of Life and Mental Well-Being of Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism is a complex disability that challenges not only the individual but also the family and society. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapies and acceptance and commitment on quality of life and mental well-being of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder.

This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group and a 3-month follow-up. The statistical population included all mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder presenting the autism association of Guilan province in 2019. Using available sampling method, 51 people were selected and randomly entered into the study in three groups of 17: cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance-based therapy, and commitment and witness therapy. Therapeutic interventions were applied for 2 months for the experimental groups. The control group did not receive any intervention. Demographic information checklists and Harper and Power quality of life questionnaires and Keys and Margiamo mental well-being questionnaires were used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using repeated measures statistical methods of variance and Bephroni post hoc test at a significant level of 0.05 using Spss24 software.

The results showed that cognitive-behavioral therapy and treatment based on acceptance and commitment increased the quality of life and mental well-being of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (p<0.001). Moreover, there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and treatment based on acceptance and commitment in increasing the quality of life and mental well-being of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (p>0.05).

According to the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that the use of interventions based on cognitive-behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment can increase the quality of life and mental well-being in mothers of children with spectrum disorders.