Acceptance and commitment therapy on parents of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

Aim: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are neurodevelopmental disorders that hinder the normal developmental process and pose enormous challenges to the parents in terms of their role expectations and adjustment with the irreversible conditions of their child. However, little attentionhas been paid to their psychological needs and wellbeing. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)focuses on accepting things that are beyond control and commit to changing those things, whichare possible to change, by increasing the psychological flexibility of the person, thereby aiding tobetter realistic adjustments. The present study aims at studying the effectiveness of ACT on parents of children and adolescents with ASDs. Materials and Methods: It followed a repeated measures design, comprising five parents having children and adolescents with ASDs receiving treatment frominpatient and outpatient services of Child Guidance Clinic, Central Institute of Psychiatry, to test the effect of 10 session protocol spanned over 2‑month. Assessment measures were done along state anxiety, depression, psychological flexibility and quality of life using State‑Trait Anxiety Inventory,Beck Depression Inventory, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment‑BREF respectively. Baseline measures were taken prior to the treatment and follow‑up measures were taken after nine treatment sessions. Results: Pre‑ to post‑treatmentimprovements were found on state anxiety, depression, psychological flexibility and quality of life. Conclusion: Findings implied that ACT may have promise in helping parents better to adjust to the difficulties in rearing children diagnosed with ASDs

Keywords:

Acceptance and commitment therapy , autism spectrum disorders , parents