The effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on self-critical rumination and feelings of shame and guilt in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder
Pardis Sattarzadeh, Sedighe Rostampour, Negar Ashna, Mohammadreza Bahrani
Rooyesh Psychological Journal December 1, 2025 DOI: 10.66224/rooyesh.14.10.261 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 24 |
| Population | Mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder in Bushehr city, Iran |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) |
| Duration | Eight 90-minute group sessions, twice weekly |
| Measures | Self-Critical Rumination Scale (SCRS), Guilt and Shame Proneness Scale (GASP) |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | After controlling for pretest scores, mothers who received eight sessions of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy showed significantly lower post-test scores on self-critical rumination, shame, and guilt than the control group, with the difference reported as significant at the 0.05 level. The authors conclude MBCT is an effective intervention for reducing these outcomes in mothers of children with ASD. |
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on self-critical rumination and feelings of shame and guilt in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The research employed a quasi-experimental method with a pretest-posttest design and and control group. The statistical population included mothers of children with ASD in Bushehr city in 2024. A total of 24 participants were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental (n = 12) and control (n = 12) groups. Data were collected using the Self-Critical Rumination Scale (SCRS; Smart et al., 2016) and the Guilt and Shame Proneness Scale (GASP; Cohen et al., 2011). The experimental group participated in eight 90-minute group sessions (twice weekly) of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). The findings showed that, after controlling for the pre-test, there was a significant difference at the 0.05 level between the mean post-test scores of self-critical rumination, shame, and guilt in the experimental and control groups. Overall, the results indicate that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is an effective intervention for reducing self-critical rumination and feelings of shame and guilt in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |