Background and Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on self-compassion, parenting stress, and post-traumatic growth in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Materials and Methods: The research employed a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of all mothers of children with ASD in Dezful in 2024. A total of 30 mothers were selected through purposive sampling based on the study’s inclusion and exclusion criteria and were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group participated in eight 90-minute weekly MBCT sessions. Data were collected using the Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2016), Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1995), and Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). The data were analyzed using multivariate and univariate analyses of covariance in SPSS version 22.
Results: The findings indicated significant differences between the experimental and control groups in self-compassion, parenting stress, and post-traumatic growth (p <0.001). Specifically, MBCT increased self-compassion and post-traumatic growth while reducing parenting stress among mothers of children with ASD.
Conclusion: Based on these findings, MBCT can be considered an effective intervention for enhancing self-compassion and post-traumatic growth and reducing parenting stress in mothers of children with ASD.