Effects of Spiritual Promotion Group Training on Psychological Wellbeing and Parental Acceptance-Rejection in the Mothers of Children With Intellectual Disabilities

Intellectual Disability (ID), as a complex neurodevelopmental condition, not only affects children, but also a chain of family and social problems that can present devastating impacts on the lives of their parents, siblings, and caregivers. Having children with ID can, in some situations, improve the familychr('39')s intimacy and positively impact the couple’s relationships; however, its detrimental effects on disturbing the psychological, emotional, and economic balance of families are undeniable. Educational and rehabilitation difficulties in children with ID require their mothers to dedicate further time to meet their needs. This is because of their stronger emotional bond and more significant role in their childchr('39')s upbringing and education; therefore, they are more prone to developing biopsychological problems. The present study aimed to explore the effects of Spiritual Promotion Group Training (SPGT) on Psychological Wellbeing (PWB) and parental acceptance–rejection in the mothers of children with IDs.

This was an experimental study with a pretest–posttest–follow–up and a control group design. The study sample included 36 mothers of children with IDs in a primary school in Tehran City, Iran, in the second semester of the 2018–2019 academic year. They were purposively selected according to predetermined criteria. The comorbidity of ID with other neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the children of the mothers participating in the present study was determined using >50 cutoff points on the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (Ehler et al., 1999); accordingly, scores over 65 were controlled on the Conners Parent Rating Scale (Conners, 1990). Besides, acute maternal emotional problems were also controlled using the Depression–Anxiety and Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). The main study tools were the Psychological Wellbeing Scale (Ryff, 1995), and the Parental Acceptance–Rejection Scale (Vahidi, 2008). SPGT is an 11–session program, i.e., designed by the research team of the present study by exploring the existing theoretical and research foundations and was evaluated in the sample group. The program focuses on spirituality and combines various psychological and spiritual topics for the mothers of children with IDs. To investigate the conversion of qualitative judgments of experts (judges) into quantity about the content validity of this program, the relative validity coefficient of Lawshe content was used. The content validity coefficient for all sessions was measured as >0.80. This indicates the appropriateness of the content validity of the program. The program was performed in eleven 70–minute sessions in groups (two sessions per week) and three 90–minute sessions. The repeated–measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and intergroup–group ANOVA were used in SPSS at the significance level of 0.001 to analyze the obtained data.

The ANOVA results suggested that the effect of time on PWB (F=218.21, p<0.001), child rejection (F=87.43, p<0.001), and child acceptance (F=24.13, p<0.001) was significant. In other words, PWB and child acceptance significantly increased in the experimental group from pretest to follow–up stages. Moreover, child rejection significantly reduced from pretest to follow–up step in the experimental group. Additionally, ANOVA data respecting the intergroup effects revealed significant differences in posttest and follow–up stages between the intervention and the control groups concerning PWB (η2=0.87, p<0.001, F=230.67), child rejection (η2=0.70, p<0.001, F=79.87), and child acceptance (η2=0.45, p<0.001, F=27.31),. The calculated mean follow–up scores in the experimental group demonstrated the lasting effect of the intervention. The Eta–coefficient obtained in intergroup differences signified that SPGT accounted for 87% of the variance of changes in PWB, 70% of the variance of changes in child rejection, and 45% of the variance of changes in child acceptance in the posttest stage.

Considering the present research findings and the effectiveness of this intervention, it can improve PWB and child acceptance and reduce rejection in the mothers of children with IDS.