The Effectiveness of Compassion Focused Therapy on Psychological Well-Being and Meaning in Life of Mothers of Children with Intellectual- Developmental Disorder

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of compassion focused therapy on psychological well-being and meaning in life of mothers of children with intellectual- developmental disorder in Ahvaz. Methods: The research method was experimental, pretest-posttest with control group. Participants included 30 people who were selected by random sampling method.15participants in the experimental group and 15 in the control group were randomly assigned and the intervention was conducted for the experimental group. The study instrument included Psychological Well-being Scale and meaning in life Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using multy-wayes analysis of covariance (MNCOVA) by SPSS-22. Results: Multivariate analysis of covariance statistical tests in experimental and control groups show that these groups were significantly different from each other in at least one of the dependent variables. F ratio of univariate analysis of covariance for psychological well-being (F=48.32, P≥0.001) and meaning in life (F=51.32, P≥0.001) was obtained in pre-test. In addition, the F ratio of univariate analysis of covariance was obtained for the psychological well-being variable (F=45.61, P≥0.001) and meaning in life (F=33.60, P≥0.001) in post-test. Therefore, a significant difference was observed in the dependent variables (psychological well-being and meaning in life) between experimental and control groups in the post-test and follow-up stages. Conclusion: The results showed that compassion-focused therapy significantly improved Psychological Well-being and fortificated meaning in life of mothers of children with mental-developmental disorder. A follow-up of four weeks also indicated the sustainability of the therapeutic changes. According to the findings of this research, compassion-focused therapy could significantly increase Psychological Well-being and meaning in life of mothers of children with mental- developmental disorder. Consequently this treatment is recommended as a useful intervention for increasing Psychological Well-being and meaning in life to psychotherapists.