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Alebehbahani M. Determining the Effectiveness of Self-compassion Training on Optimism and Psychological Resilience of Mothers of Exceptional Children. MEJDS 2025; 15 (0) :56-56
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-3280-en.html
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Bandar Deylam Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Deylam, Iran
Abstract:   (1386 Views)

Abstract
Background & Objectives: The presence of an exceptional child, considering his or her characteristics and needs, can be a source of stress for mothers who spend more time with the child compared to other family members. This condition affects their quality of life and mental health. Compared to mothers of normal children, mothers with exceptional children experience a lower level of optimism and psychological resilience and a higher level of stress and mental health problems. Various solutions, including third-wave treatments, have been used for mothers with exceptional children due to their correlation with mental health. A focused therapy on self-compassion teaches people not to push away and avoid their painful feelings, but to accept them. Therefore, they can recognize and feel self-compassion about their experiences in the early stages. Instead of criticizing, condemning, or self-blaming, they foster a self-compassionate relationship with themselves, thereby providing the necessary help to the clients. Therefore, this research aimed to determine the effectiveness of self-compassion training on optimism and resilience of mothers with exceptional children.
Methods: This research was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population of this research comprised all mothers with exceptional children covered by the Welfare Administration of Bushehr City, Iran, in the year 2022-2023, which consisted of 436 families. Of them, 62 eligible volunteer mothers with exceptional children were included in the study by the available sampling method. Then, 31 mothers were assigned to the experimental group and 31 to the control group in a simple random manner. The inclusion criteria included mothers aged 18 to 60 years, with an exceptional child aged 3 to 17 years, and at least a high school diploma. The exclusion criteria included failure to answer the researcher's questions, unwillingness to continue participating, physical and psychological illnesses that interfered with meeting participation and questionnaire completion, and absence from more than two sessions of the self-compassion training. The experimental group received self-compassion training for ten 90-minute sessions (Gilbert, 2014). However, no intervention was provided for the control group during this period. The Life Orientation Test (LOT) (Scheier et al., 1994) and the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD–RISC) (Connor & Davidson, 2003) were used to collect data. To analyze the data in the pretest and posttest, in addition to descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), the statistical method of covariance analysis was used in SPSS version 22 software. A significance level of 0.05 was considered for all statistical tests.
Results:  The results showed that the self-compassion training used in this research increases optimism and resilience and its components (perception of individual competence, trust in individual instincts and tolerance of negative emotions, positive acceptance of change and relations of safety, control and emotional effects) has a significant impact (p<0.001) between the experimental and control groups in the posttest, after removing the effect of the pretest. Also, the educational intervention of self-compassion can explain the changes of 61% and 53% variables of optimism and resilience of mothers with exceptional children, respectively.
Conclusion: According to the research results, self-compassion training is an effective intervention in improving the level of optimism and resilience of mothers with exceptional children. So, educational and treatment centers can identify mothers and caregivers with exceptional children who have problems in the field of resilience and optimism. To effectively address problematic events in their lives, teach parents self-compassion and its components in both individual and group training sessions.

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Type of Study: Original Research Article | Subject: Psychology

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