The Effectiveness of Reality Therapy on Psychological Capital, Emotional Self-regulation and Anxiety Sensitivity in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum

Autism spectrum disorder is one of the neurodevelopmental disorders that has been associated with persistent deficits in communication and social interactions in several different fields.  This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of reality therapy on psychological capital, emotional self-regulation and anxiety sensitivity in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder. The research method is a quasi-experimental method and its design is pre-test and post-test with a control group. This study was carrie out on mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder in Rasht, Iran. The instruments included the 16-question anxiety sensitivity questionnaire of Deacon and Wallen (2002), the 24-question psychological capital questionnaire of Luthans (2007) and the 63-question self-regulation questionnaire of Miller and Brown (1999).The data were analyzed using SPSS23 software and Mankova's multivariate analysis of covariance test. The results of the research showed that reality therapy had a significant effect on psychological capital, emotional self-regulation and anxiety sensitivity in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder. Reality therapy also had a significant effect on anxiety sensitivity and psychological capital. It also had a significant effect on emotional self-regulation. The average scores of psychological capital, emotional self-regulation in the intervention group under reality therapy in the post-test stage significantly increased compared to the pre-test and the control group. Also, the average scores of anxiety sensitivity in the intervention group under reality therapy in the post-test phase decreased compared to the pre-test and the control group.