Comparison of the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy with using rumi stories and acceptance and commitment therapy on posttraumatic growth of mothers of children with cerebral palsy

The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy in the posttraumatic growth has always attracted researchers' attention and considering the importance of using these two methods in the context of Iran, it is important to identify a more efficient treatment to reduce posttraumatic growth.

This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy using Mowlana's parables and anecdotes and acceptance and commitment therapy in distress tolerance and posttraumatic growth in mothers of children with cerebral palsy.

This applied study was conducted using a quasi-experimental method with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical society included all mothers having children with cerebral palsy visiting the Rehabilitation Center of Nourafshar Cerebral Palsy Hospital and the Rehabilitation Center of Workers in Zafaranieh, Tehran, in 2022. Participants were 48 mothers who were selected using convenience sampling considering inclusion and exclusion criteria and were allocated to two intervention groups and a control group using random replacement. The participants filled the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (developed by Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996) in the pretest-posttest and follow-up phases. Data were analyzed using the the repeated measures ANOVA in SPSS 23.

Results suggested that the cognitive-behavioral therapy using Mowlana's parables and anecdotes as well as the acceptance and commitment therapy proved effective in improving posttraumatic growth and its subscales in participants in the post-test and follow-up phases (p< 0.01). On the other hand, the cognitive-behavioral therapy using Mowlana's parables and anecdotes was more effective compared to the acceptance and commitment therapy in increasing posttraumatic growth(p< 0.05).

Results suggest that the content of cognitive behavioral therapy based on Mowlana's works is more effective in promoting posttraumatic growth due to its proximity to the psychological status of mothers of children with cerebral palsy.