Efficacy of Hope-Oriented Group Therapy on Quality of Life and Parent-Child Relationship in Mothers with Autistic Children

Life quality is an important health indicator decreased significantly in mothers with autistic children. One of the major problems in these families is the problems related to quality of parent-child relationship. Thus, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of hope-oriented group therapy on quality of life and parent-child relations in mothers with autistic children
This semi-experimental pretest posttest study with control was conducted on the mothers with autistic children in Tehran, 2015. Thirty eligible mothers were assigned randomly to experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The experimental group received hope-oriented group therapy for eight treatment sessions (90 minutes, one session per week). The instruments were Quality of life (WHOQOL- BREF) and parent-child relations questionnaire Fine et al. Data analysis was carried out by covariance
Findings: The results indicated that there is a significantly difference in life quality (F=11.189, p=0.002) between before and after treatment (p= 0.05). Also, it was observed a significant difference between quality of parent-child relations (F=4.014, p= 0.030) in pre and post -tests (p= 0.05).
Con Hope-oriented group therapy has moderate positive effects on life quality and quality of parent-child relationship in mothers with autistic children. Hence, it could be considered by psychologists, as a therapeutic approach, for the families with autistic children.