The Impact of a Cognitive Behavioral Program Counseling on Reducing Psychological Stress Among a Sample of Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the effect of an emotional rational indicative program theory in reducing psychological stress in a sample of mothers of children with autism spectrum dis-order. The study sample consisted of 20 children with autism spectrum disorder at Jawad Foundation. The participants in the study were randomly divided into two groups: (control and experimental), with a total of 10 individuals in each group. The study used the psycho-logical stress scale, which was developed by the researcher in accordance with the Palestini-an environment and study objectives. The researcher has also developed an emotional ra-tional indicative program which she applied to the experimental group over 13 sessions, at a rate of two sessions a week, each session consisted of 45 minutes. The results of the study showed no statistically significant differences between the arithme-tic averages of measures before of the psychological stress scale according to the variables of the group (experimental and control). The results also showed that there were statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group on the psy-chological stress scale after the application of the program in favor of the experimental group. Furthermore, the results showed statistically significant differences between the av-erage scores of the experimental group on the stress scale before and after the program was applied. and the existence of statistically significant differences between the average scores of the experimental group members on the psychological stress scale in the after and the fol-low-up scale.