The Effectiveness of the  Little Bird Program in the General Health of Mothers with Autistic Children

Many studies have shown that the family of autistic children, especially their parents, experience great stress and face psychological problems. Therefore it is better to use programs that focus not only on children but also on parents. One of these programs is the ‘Little Bird’. The Little Bird Program is a parent-focused program designed to help par-ents understand and work with their autistic children. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Little Bird program on improving the mothers’ mental health of autistic children. The research design was quasi-experimental with an experimental and control groups. The sample comprised 24 mothers. The General Health Questionnaire 3 times: a week before the intervention, in the 16th week and a month after the intervention. Data were analyzed using the repeated measure ANOVAs. The results showed that the Little Bird program has a significant effect on improving the mothers’ mental health. Programs which try to modify the mothers’ attitudes and perceptions about problematic behaviors of their children can increase their potential to cope with parental tasks and this, in turn, can decrease mothers’ parental stress and improve their mental health.