Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on hope and distress tolerance in mothers of children with physical-motor disabilities

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Student in General Psychology, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran

3 Associate Professor of Psychology, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Having a disabled child can be associated with experiencing negative emotions in the parents, including their mothers. Such negative emotions may include guilt, shame, sadness, anxiety and worry, anger and tension, and despair. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on hope and distress tolerance in mothers of children with physical-motor disabilities.
Methods: The research method was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with a control group. The statistical population was comprised of all mothers of children with physical-motor disabilities who referred to schools for physically disabled children in Tehran during April to July 2019. Purposive sampling was used to select 30 female subjects who were then randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 15) and control groups (n = 15). In the pre-test stage, Adult Hope Scale and Distress Tolerance Scale were administered. Afterwards, the experimental group was treated for 8 sessions while the control group did not receive any intervention. Finally, both groups participated in post-test and follow-up (3 months). Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyze the data.
Findings: The results showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups after the treatment. Consequently, the mean score of hope and distress tolerance in the experimental group increased compared to the control group (P <0.001).
Conclusion: Based on the findings, it can be concluded that acceptance and commitment therapy is effective in improving hope and distress tolerance in mothers of children with physical-motor disabilities.

Keywords

References

  1. Jenkin E, Wilson E, Campain R, Clarke M. The Principles and Ethics of Including Children with Disability in
    Child Research. Children & Society. 2020 Jan; 34(1):1-6.
    2. Ogourtsova T, O'Donnell M, De Souza Silva W, Majnemer A. Health coaching for parents of children with
    developmental disabilities: a systematic review. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology. 2019 Nov; 61(11):1259-
    65.
    3. Baghaei-Moghadam G. The effectiveness of life skills training on anxiety, happiness and anger control of
    adolescence with physical-motor disability. International Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 2012 Feb 1; 5(4):305-10.
    4. Alwhaibi RM, Zaidi U, Alzeiby I, Alhusaini A. Quality of Life and Socioeconomic Status: A Comparative Study
    among Mothers of Children with and without Disabilities in Saudi Arabia. Child Care in Practice. 2020 Jan 2; 26(1):62-
    80.
    5. Roberts K. The Psychological and physical health, stress and needs of caregivers of children with disabilities
    enrolled in family-centered support programs (Doctoral dissertation, Lethbridge, Alta.: University of Lethbridge, Faculty
    of Education).
    6. Petrova EA, Potashova II, Kozyakov RV. Modern technologies of working with families of children with
    disabilities. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2016 Oct 17; 233:231-5.
    7. Sangani A, Ramak N, Rahmani M. Comparison of anger level, parental tension and coping strategies with the
    stress of the mothers of mentally retarded children with normal children's mothers. Family Pathology, Counseling and
    Enrichment Journal. 2018 Mar 10; 3(2):103-18.
  2. 8. Esmaeili Ghazi Valuei F, Ghomi M, Jamali A, Shafiee Z. Effectiveness of Existential Group Psychotherapy on
    Psychological Well-Being and Distress Tolerance of Physical-Motor Disabled. Quarterly Journal of Social Work. 2017
    Sep 10; 6(2):24-34.
    9. Wild ND, Paivio SC. Psychological adjustment, coping, and emotion regulation as predictors of posttraumatic
    growth. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma. 2004 Jun 21; 8(4):97-122.
    10. Marini CM, Fiori KL, Wilmoth JM, Kaiser AP, Martire LM. Psychological adjustment of aging Vietnam
    veterans: the role of social network ties in reengaging with wartime memories. Gerontology. 2020; 66(2):138-48.
    11. Kontis V, Bennett JE, Mathers CD, Li G, and Foreman K, Ezzati M. Future life expectancy in 35 industrialised
    countries: projections with a Bayesian model ensemble. The Lancet. 2017 Apr 1; 389(10076):1323-35.
    12. Kausar S, Jevne RF, Sobsey D. Hope in families of children with developmental disabilities. Journal on
    developmental disabilities. 2013; 10(1):35-46.
    13. Safara M, Khanbabaee M, Khanbabaee M. The Effect of Spiritual Skills Training on the State of Hope in
    Mothers with Intellectual Disabled Children. The Neuroscience Journal of Shefaye Khatam.:0-.
    14. Fereydooni A, Heidari A, Eftekhar Saadi Z, Ehteshamzadeh P, Pasha R. Comparison of Effectiveness of
    Mindfulness and Happiness Training in Promoting Parent-Child Interaction Case Study: Mothers of Anxious Preschool
    Children in Shahrekord city, Southwest of Iran, 2018. Journal of Community Health Research. 2020 Feb 10; 9(1):37-45.
    15. Hayes SC. Acceptance and commitment therapy, relational frame theory, and the third wave of behavioral and
    cognitive therapies–republished article. Behavior therapy. 2016 Nov 1; 47(6):869-85.
    16. Heidari A, Heidari H, Davoudi H. Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based therapy on the physical
    and psychological marital intimacy of women. International Journal of Educational and Psychological Researches. 2017
    Jul 1; 3(3):163.
    17. Pots WT, Fledderus M, Meulenbeek PA, Peter M, Schreurs KM, Bohlmeijer ET. Acceptance and commitment
    therapy as a web-based intervention for depressive symptoms: randomised controlled trial. The British Journal of
    Psychiatry. 2016 Jan; 208(1):69-77.
    18. Villatte JL, Vilardaga R, Villatte M, Vilardaga JC, Atkins DC, Hayes SC. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
    modules: Differential impact on treatment processes and outcomes. Behaviour research and therapy. 2016 Feb 1; 77:52-
    61.
    19. Burckhardt R, Manicavasagar V, Batterham PJ, Hadzi-Pavlovic D, Shand F. Acceptance and commitment
    therapy universal prevention program for adolescents: a feasibility study. Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental
    health. 2017 Dec; 11(1):27.
    20. Snyder C R, Lopez SJ. Positive psychology: the scientific and practical explorations of human strengths. New
    York, sage publication Inc. 2007.
    21. Lopez SJ, Snyder CR, and Rasmussen HN, Cole BP. Striking a vital balance: Developing a complementary focus
    on human weakness and strength.
    22. Khodabakhash, R., Khosravi, Z., Shahangian, S. Effect of Positive Psychotherapy in Depression Symptoms and
    Character Strengths in Cancer Affected Patients. Positive Psychology, 2015; 1(1): 35-50.
    23. Simons JS, Gaher RM. The Distress Tolerance Scale: Develop-ment and validation of a self-report measure.
    Motivation & Emo-tion. 2005; 29(2):83–102. doi: 10.1007/s11031-005-7955-3
    24. Hosein Esfand Zad A, Shams G, Meysami AP, Erfan A. (The Role of Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, Distress
    Tolerance and Interpersonal Effectiveness in Predicting Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms (Persian)). Iranian Journal of
    Psychia-try & Clinical Psychology. 2017; 22(4):270-283.
    25. Alavi Kh, Modarres Gharavi M, Amin-Yazdi SA, Salehi Fad-ardi J. (Effectiveness of group dialectical
    behavior therapy (based on core mindfulness, distress tolerance and emotion regulation components) on depressive
    symptoms in university students (Persian)). Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health. 2011; 13(2): 35-124
    26. Harris R. ACT with love: stop struggling, reconcile differences, and strengthen your relationship with acceptance
    and commitm. New Harbinger Publications; 2009 Jun 1.
    27. Zarling A, Bannon S, Berta M. Evaluation of acceptance and commitment therapy for domestic violence
    offenders. Psychology of violence. 2019 May; 9(3):257.
    28. Nelson CJ, Saracino RM, Napolitano S, Pessin H, Narus JB, Mulhall JP. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
    to Increase Adherence to Penile Injection Therapy-Based Rehabilitation After Radical Prostatectomy: Pilot Randomized
    Controlled Trial. The journal of sexual medicine. 2019 Sep 1; 16(9):1398-408.
    29. Hadyian S, Dehghani A. The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment-Based Therapy on Assertiveness of
    Imposed War Veterans' daughters. Iranian Journal of War and Public Health. 2019 Jul 10; 11(3):147-51.
    30. Rostami M, Rasouli M, Kasaee A. Comparison of the effect of group counseling based on spirituality-based
    therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on improving the quality of life the elderly. Journal of Applied
    Counseling. 2019; 9(1):87-110.
  3. 31. Probst T, Baumeister H, McCracken LM, Lin J. Baseline psychological inflexibility moderates the outcome pain
    interference in a randomized controlled trial on internet-based acceptance and commitment therapy for chronic pain.
    Journal of clinical medicine. 2019 Jan; 8(1):24.
    32. Moslem Khani M, Ebrahimi ME, Sahebi A. The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on
    happiness and hope of hamedanian multiple sclerosis patients. Pajouhan Scientific Journal. 2019 Mar 10; 17(2):15-23.
    33. Mosher CE, Secinti E, Hirsh AT, Hanna N, Einhorn LH, Jalal SI, Durm G, Champion VL, Johns SA. Acceptance
    and Commitment Therapy for Symptom Interference in Advanced Lung Cancer and Caregiver Distress: A Pilot
    Randomized Trial. Journal of pain and symptom management. 2019 Oct 1; 58(4):632-44.
    34. Stitt A. ACT for Gender Identity: The Comprehensive Guide. Jessica Kingsley Publishers; 2020 Feb 21.
Medical Journal of Mashhad university of Medical Sciences
Volume 64, Issue 2
July and August 2021
Pages 2706-2719

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics