Abstract

Background & Objectives: Diagnosing a child with autism spectrum disorder has devastating and distressing effects on parents, especially mothers, and causes them severe anxiety. These issues can affect the life expectancy and mental health of mothers of autistic children. In fact, one of the problems that mothers of autistic children experience is a decrease in hope in life. Another problem for mothers of autistic children is psychological distress. Given the importance of increasing hope in the lives of mothers of autistic children and reducing psychological distress in these individuals, different therapeutic approaches have provided different solutions to influence these psychological constructs. One of the effective coping strategies is the use of acceptance and commitment therapy. This therapeutic approach is a psychological model and a third–wave cognitive–behavioral therapy. The primary goal of acceptance and commitment therapy is to reduce avoidance of internal experiences and enhance cognitive flexibility. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment training on hope and psychological distress in mothers of children with the autism spectrum disorder.

Methods: The present study used a quasi–experimental research method using a pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population of the present study included all mothers of children with autism who were receiving treatment for their children at the Tehran Autism Association in the first half of 2024. Using the convenience sampling method, 46 eligible volunteers were included in the study. These individuals were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. The inclusion criteria for mothers in the study were as follows: willingness to participate in the study and having a child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. The exclusion criteria were dissatisfaction with participation and failure to cooperate in the study. The experimental group received acceptance and commitment training based on the Hayes et al. (2006) treatment protocol. The control group met at another time at the training site and read and reviewed the book. At the beginning of the study, subjects in both groups answered the Snyder Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1991) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) and completed both questionnaires again after the end of the interventions. To adhere to ethical principles, each selected participant was provided with an explanation of the research design, to the extent that it would not introduce bias into the results. Informed consent was obtained from all participants, and issues related to confidentiality and the protection of their information were fully explained to them. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 28 in two sections: descriptive and inferential statistics. In the descriptive statistics section, frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used. In the inferential statistics section, univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to examine the research objective. The significance level for the tests was set at 0.05.

Results: The results of the univariate analysis of covariance showed that, at the post–test stage, there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in both hope (p < 0.001) and psychological distress (p < 0.001). The eta–squared results indicated that Acceptance and Commitment Training led to a 61.1% increase in hope and a 79.8% reduction in psychological distress among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder.

Conclusion: According to the findings, acceptance and commitment training leads to increased hope and reduced psychological distress in mothers of autistic children. Accordingly, it is recommended that relevant authorities provide the basis for increasing hope and reducing psychological distress in mothers of autistic children by holding acceptance and commitment training workshops.

Keywords: Acceptance and Commitment Training, Hope, Psychological distress, Mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder.