Developing stress management program for mothers of children with ADHD and its effectiveness on their mental health

AbstractThe main objective of the present study is to plan a stress management program utilizing cognitive-behavioural approach, and assessing its effectiveness on mental health of mothers of children with ADHD. The program focuses on parental, situational and individual stress; and is designed in 10 sessions of two hours each. The present study is a semi-experimental with pre and post-test and control group. The sample included 50 mothers from two counselling centres whose children were diagnosed with ADHD and volunteerly participate in this program. 30 of these mothers were assigned to experimental group and 17 control group. The effectiveness of the workshop was measured by Mental Health Inventory (MHI), and Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale(DASS). Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze data. Results show a significant decrease in scores of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress of the experimental groups. Result show significant improvement in mental well-being of mothers and diminishing their anxiety and depression