Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to Reduce Caregiver Strain in Mothers of Autistic Children
- DOI
- 10.2991/iciap-18.2019.20How to use a DOI?
- Keywords
- acceptance and commitment therapy, autistic children, caregiver strain
- Abstract
This research aims to reduce caregiver strain in mothers who care for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study was conducted based on the high caregiver strain experienced by mothers in the caregiving process. Such strain affects not only the mother’s psychological well-being but also the child’s. The current study was conducted using a one-group quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design, in which the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention was individually implemented to four participants. Analyses were drawn from comparing quantitative and qualitative data from the pretest and posttest periods. Quantitative results showed that ACT reduced strain scores as measured by the modified caregiver strain index (MCSI). Qualitative results showed that ACT improved participants’ ability to deal with caregiver strain. Participants reported having more positive feelings, ability to control negative emotions, and capability to deal with unpleasant events in their lives. Participants also obtained new knowledge and skills on how to deal with strain as a caregiver of a child with ASD. In conclusion, ACT is effective at reducing caregiver strain in mothers of autistic children.
- Copyright
- © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
- Open Access
- This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Cite this article
TY - CONF AU - Dewinta Larasati P. AU - Sali Rahadi Asih AU - Ina Saraswati PY - 2019/08 DA - 2019/08 TI - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to Reduce Caregiver Strain in Mothers of Autistic Children BT - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Intervention and Applied Psychology (ICIAP 2018) PB - Atlantis Press SP - 237 EP - 251 SN - 2352-5398 UR - https://doi.org/10.2991/iciap-18.2019.20 DO - 10.2991/iciap-18.2019.20 ID - LarasatiP.2019/08 ER -