The Effectiveness of the Reality Therapy on the Rumination, Concern and Tolerance of Distress in Mothers of Autistic Children

Since mothers of autistic children are exposed to various stressors, efforts to modify coping styles and cognitive distortions are particularly important. The aim of this study was to determine The Effectiveness of the Reality Therapy on the Rumination, Concern and Tolerance of Distress in Mothers of Autistic Children.

The present study is a quasi-experimental, pre-test, post-test, and control group. The statistical population of the study was mothers of autism children in Sari autism centers in 2018. Then, volunteers volunteered to answer the questionnaires of Nullen Hoeksma and Marrow (1991), Pennsylvania Concerns Questionnaire (PSWQ) Brown (2003) and Simonchr('39')s and Wohsharchr('39')s Distress Tolerance Questionnaire (2005). Thirty mothers with the highest scores in the rumination and low score scores in distress tolerance were selected as samples and divided into two groups: experimental and control. The treatment reality was applied to the experimental group in 8 sessions. At the end of the course, both groups completed the above questionnaires as a post-test. Data were analyzed using covariance analysis.

The results showed that the therapeutic reality has an effect on reducing the rumination and anxiety of mothers of autistic children, and also increases the distress tolerance of autistic children mothers (p < 0.001).

Due to the effectiveness of this method, it is recommended to use autism to reduce the risk of rumination and concern and increase the tolerance of autistic childrenchr('39')s mothers.