Life Skills Training on Mental Health of Mothers With Children With Mental Disorder

Family is an integrated and systematic unity, and any problem of one member engages the other family members. A disability or disorder in a family member usually has a profound impact on the familychr('39')s system, as well as the quality of life and mental health of family members. Moreover, mothers are more involved with their children than fathers and play the role of parenting more than them; they are more exposed to psychological problems. In other words, caring for a physically or psychologically disordered member disrupts family life and devests the vitality and welfare of family members. Such an effect is even more significant in mothers, and accordingly influences the family’s mental health status. To improve relationships, and in general, the mental health of the parents of children with mental disorders, providing training and psychological interventions could be effective on the quality of life of these individuals and their families. One of the programs that can be useful in this area is life skills training. Life skills are defined as abilities for adaptation, as well as positive attitudes and feedbacks that enable individuals to face the challenges and requirements of everyday life effectively. Therefore, the present research aimed to investigate the effects of life skills training on the mental health of mothers of children with mental disorders.

This study was a quasi–experimental with a pretest–posttest and a control group design. The statistical population of this study consisted of mothers of children with mental disorders (autism and intellectual disabilities), referring to the Ahang Rehabilitation Center. In total, 30 mothers of children with mental disorders selected through the convenience sampling method. They randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received life skills training, but the control group received no intervention. The study groups were matched in terms of age and the duration of the marriage. The Symptom Checklist–90 (SCL–90) used to collect the required data. The validity and reliability of this test were confirmed in Iran by Bagheri Yazdi. In Bagheri Yazdichr('39')s study, the test’s validity, one week after running the test, was calculated as 0.97 by the test–retest method. The test’s reliability is reported to be 0.94. In this test, three indicators, including the general index of symptoms, the number of positive symptoms, and the level of positive symptoms’ discomfort, were calculated. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics of Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) in SPSS.

The obtained data suggested a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of mental health in the components of physical complaints, obsession, anxiety, psychosis, aggression, and interpersonal sensitivity (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the components of depression, phobias, and paranoid between the study groups.

The study findings indicated that with the assumption of pretest control, life skills training was effective on all mental health components of psychological symptoms except for depression, phobias, and paranoia. In other words, life skills training has a significant effect on anxiety, sensitivity in interpersonal relationships, psychosocial disorders, physical complaints, obsession, and aggression in the experimental group, compared to the controls.