Healing the Caregivers: Therapeutic Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Psychological Morbidity in Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities

An eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program lowered depression, anxiety, and stress among 35 parents (aged 25–45) of children with developmental disabilities. Depression, anxiety, and stress scores all decreased significantly. The findings suggest MBSR may benefit parents' psychological distress and support integrating mindfulness training into caregiver programs.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study looks at the efficacy of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program in reducing psychological stress for parents of children with all developmental disabilities. A one–group pre test – post test quasi experimental design was used. Participants in the MBSR intervention program for 8 weeks were the 35 parents (25-45 years) who were in the sample. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) were used to measure psychological distress before and after intervention. Paired sample t-tests were used to analyze data. The findings showed that the intervention was effective in lowering depression, anxiety, and stress. Depression scores significantly lowered, t(34) = 6.36, p < .001, anxiety scores reduced, t(34) = 6.13, p < .001, and stress scores also decreased, t(34) = 5.68, p < .001. The values of skewness and kurtosis were within normal limits, while Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency was from .88 to .99, which was also excellent. The general results indicated that MBSR could be beneficial to parents' psychological distress in children with DD. The findings highlight the importance of embedding mindfulness training in caregiver support programs in other, less-studied, and culturally diverse settings.