The effectiveness of psychological empowerment based on individual psychological approach on psychological burden and cognitive flexibility of mothers with children with mental disabilities

Abstract Background and purpose: The birth of a mentally retarded child affects various aspects of parents' lives. Psychological burden and cognitive inflexibility in mothers with children with mental disabilities cause several psychological problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of psychological empowerment on psychological burden and cognitive flexibility of mothers with mentally retarded children. Methods: In a quasi-experimental study, 30 mothers with mentally retarded children from the Rehabilitation Educational Complex of the Rehabilitated Education District 2 in Tehran in 2020 were randomly selected and divided into two experimental groups (15 people) and control (15 people (. For the experimental group, 8 sessions of psychological empowerment training based on the individual psychology approach were held for 8 weeks and the control group did not receive any psychological intervention during this period. Participants were measured by Pai & Kapur Family Burden Interview Schedule and Dennis & VanderWal Cognitive Flexibility. Results: The results of the analysis of covariance showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in psychological load and mothers' cognitive flexibility in the post-test stage. Findings showed that psychological empowerment training has a positive effect on reducing psychological burden and promoting cognitive flexibility of mothers with mentally retarded children (P <0.05). Conclusion: Based on the evidence of the present study, this intervention can be used to reduce stress and promote the cognitive flexibility of mothers with mentally retarded children.