The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Counseling on Parent-Child Relationship in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Aims Having a child with autism spectrum disorder can put a lot of stress and pressure on parents and affect their quality of life, as compared to parents of normal children. In this regard, the present study aimed to identify and determine the effectiveness of group cognitive behavioral counseling of the parents of children with autism spectrum disorder on their communication interactions with children. Participants Methods Population consisted of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder in the city of Shiraz, of which 40 eligible volunteers were selected using purposeful sampling method and were randomly divided into two groups of 20 (control and experiment) in the academic year of 2018-2019. Data collected using the Child-Parent Relationship Scale (CPRS; Pianta). Having completed the questionnaires by the target population, the experiment group received the intervention training program of group cognitive behavioral counseling for 10 one-hour sessions. However, the control group received no intervention training. Multivariate covariance analysis and SPSS 22 were used to analyze data. The significance level was considered as 0.01. Findings The group cognitive behavioral counseling for mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder was effective on communication interaction with children and improved it (p= 0.001). Regarding the assessed effect, it should be noted that the degree of changes, according to eta coefficient (effect rate) was 23.3%. Conclusion According to the findings, group cognitive behavioral intervention method can be effective on improving parenting for children with autism spectrum disorder.