Abstract
Effectiveness of Transactional Analysis on Parental Stress of Mothers with Autistic Children
Author(s): Atefeh Heyrat* and Fatemeh Mohammadi FesharakiIntroduction: Autism is a developmental disorder that is characterized by challenges in social interaction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of transactional analysis on parental stress of mothers with autistic children.
Materials and methods: The research method was quasi-experimental using pre-test and post-test design with control and intervention groups. The statistical population of this study was all mothers of autistic children living in Isfahan (Isfahan, Iran) in total of 30 samples were selected by purposive sampling method and were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Both groups were first pretested by the Berry and Jones (1995) Parental Stress Scale. Then, only the mothers of the intervention group underwent sessions of group therapy based on the transactional analysis. After sessions of minutes on the intervention group, both groups were re-evaluated by the same tests. The results were analyzed by SPSS software and covariance analysis.
Results: The results of the current study indicated that parental stress scores in the intervention group was reduced significantly in the post-test compared to pre-test (P<0.05). Therefore, the analysis of transactional has been able to significantly reduce the mean scores of parental stress in mothers of children with autism.
Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of transactional analysis on parental stress of mothers with autistic children, therefore, counseling through transactional analysis can be considered as a support tool for mothers with autistic children.