Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract
Background & Objectives: A healthy family is one of the most influential factors in shaping a healthy and normal society. Having mothers with good mental health and vitality can have a significant impact on the growth and prosperity of society. One of the disorders that can affect the family institution is the birth of a child with autism. Experimental avoidance disorder is a type of disorder in which a person avoids or escapes a disgusting experience. The experimental avoidance function controls or minimizes the effect of annoying experiences and can negatively enhance adequate behavior by providing immediate and short–term relaxation. One of the intervention methods that may affect the reduction or avoidance of the experience of mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder is horizontal time comparison therapy. The time perspective has been introduced as a new approach in the field of pathology. This view is rooted in social psychology and is expanding to clinical and psychiatric psychology. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of time perspective therapy in reducing the experiential avoidance of mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder living in Ahvaz City, Iran.
Methods: The research method employed a quasi–experimental design with a pretest–posttest and follow–up approach, incorporating a control group. The statistical population of this study consisted of all mothers with autistic children living in Ahvaz City, Iran. From the mentioned community, 30 mothers with autistic children were selected by a purposive method. After selecting the sample, individuals were randomly divided into two groups: experimental (n=15) and control (n=15). The inclusion criteria were individuals at least eighteen years old and a maximum of fifty years old, having at least one child with autism spectrum disorder, holding a minimum ninth–grade degree, and a desire to attend sessions and complete the questionnaire. Subjects' exclusion criteria were having psychological disorders, using any psychiatric and psychiatric drugs, receiving psychological services for each disorder, and being absent from more than two sessions of therapeutic sessions. The experimental group received a perspective time therapy in six 90–minute sessions, one session per week. Still, the control group did not receive any intervention, and two months later, the follow–up stage was performed. Data were obtained using the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire–II (AAQ–II) (Bond et al., 2011). To analyze the data in the descriptive statistics section, the mean and standard deviation were calculated, and in the inferential statistics section, univariate covariance analysis and variance analysis with repeated measurements, along with the LSD post hoc test, were performed using SPSS version 26 software. The significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.
Results: After controlling for the pretest effect, the results showed that the difference between the experimental and control groups in the experiential avoidance variable was significant in the posttest stage (p<0.001). There was a significant difference between the three stages of measuring the experiential avoidance variable in the experimental group (p<0.001). Additionally, in the experiential avoidance variable of the experimental group, a significant difference was observed between the average stages of the pretest and posttest (p<0.001) and between the average stages of the pretest and follow–up (p=0.01). However, there was no significant difference between the posttest and follow–up stages (p>0.05), indicating the continuation of the intervention's effect in the follow–up stage.
Conclusion: The results showed that time perspective therapy is effective in reducing experimental avoidance in mothers with autistic children.