Effect of Negative Mood Management Training on Mental Health and Depression of Mothers with Autism Children

Parents’ mental health could be intensively influenced by disabled child، especially when there is a disorder such as autism including a wide range of behaviors and particularly social behaviors. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of negative mood management training on mental health and depression of mothers of Children with Autistic disorder. Sample of this study consists of thirteen mothers of children with autistic disorder. Pre test consist of demographic questionnaire، General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)، the post-tests were completed after 4 sessions of the workshop. the result of repeated measures and paired samples t-test analysis showed that the workshop improved mothers’ mental health in subscales of anxiety/insomnia، physical symptoms، and social function (p<0. 05). There was no significant change in mothers’ depression and total scores of mental health(). The results showed that negative mood management training could be included as an effective part of mental health improving interventions for mothers of children with autistic disorder.