The effectiveness of mentalization-based therapy on emotion regulation and parenting stress in mothers of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of mentalization-based training on emotion regulation and parenting stress in mothers of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The research method was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population included all mothers of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder who had referred to psychology centers in Ardabil in the academic year 1403-1404. Among them, 30 people were selected using purposive sampling and randomly assigned to two groups of 15 people: experimental and control. Mentalization-based sessions were conducted for two 45-minute sessions per week in the experimental group. The Parenting Stress Questionnaire-Short Form (PSI-SF, Abidin, 1995), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ, Gross & John, 2003), and the Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Scale (CPRS-26) (Connors et al., 1960) were used to collect data. The data were analyzed using multivariate and univariate analysis of variance. The findings of the study showed that by controlling for the pretest effect, there was a significant difference between the mean posttest of parental stress, emotion regulation, emotional inhibition, and cognitive reappraisal in the two experimental and control groups at the level of (P<0.05). Accordingly, it can be said that the use of mentalization-based training can be effective in improving parental stress, emotion regulation, emotional inhibition, and cognitive reappraisal of mothers with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.