Effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based interventions on the mental states of parents with special needs children: Randomized controlled trial

Abstract

This study is consisted of a randomized controlled trial with two groups using a pre?test, post?test, and follow?up design to detect the effect of interventions based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) implemented with parents of children with special needs regarding parents’ levels of psychological inflexibility, depression, anxiety, stress, and caregiver burden. A total of 60 eligible parents were recruited and randomly assigned to the intervention and control group. The intervention group participated in ACT-based interventions consisting of 6 sessions. The control group, only participated in routine training sessions organized at the school. Data were analyzed using t-tests for independent and depedent samples, ANOVAs, and the Mann–Whitney U test. It was determined that the ACT-based interventions implemented with parents were effective in decreasing parents’ levels of psychological inflexibility, depression, anxiety, stress, and caregiver burden. These observed changes continued over time. The ACT-based interventions results showed that the interventions were effective and had positive effects on the mental states of parents with special needs children. Findings of this study add important knowledge about the effect of ACT-based intervention on psychological inflexibility, depression, anxiety, stress, and caregiver burden of parents with special needs children. Considering the findings, the present study provides both important and practical contributions to the current literature. It appears that ACT is effective for supporting the mental states of parents with children with special needs. Registration number: The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04307706. © 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.