The Effectiveness of Self-Compassion Education on the Shame and Guilt of Mothers of Children with Learning Disorders

Background & objectives: Parents of children with learning disorders experience more negative emotions than parents of normal children, therefore, they require attention and receiving psychological interventions.  This study made an effort to reduce the psychological problems of these mothers. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of self-compassion training on the shame and guilt of mothers of children with learning disabilities. Methods: The research method was semi-experimental with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population of this study consisted of all mothers with learning disabilities who referred to Ardabil education and rehabilitation centers for special learning problems in academic year of 2018-2019. The sample of study consisted of 40 mothers who were selected by available sampling method and were assigned in two groups of 20 people including experimental and control group. The experimental group received 8 seventy minute-sessions for compassion training. Shame and guilt scale were used for data collection. Data analysis was performed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) using SPSS-22 software. Results: The findings showed that self-compassion training had a significant effect on reducing the shame and guilt of mothers of children with learning disabilities (p<0.001). That is, 0.15 and 0.18 of the changes in the mean scores of the post-test compared to the pre-test was due to self-compassion training regarding the variables of shame and guilt in experimental group. Conclusion: The results showed that self-compassion training reduced the feelings of shame and guilt of mothers of children with learning disabilities. Feelings of shame and guilt can lead to psychological damage in mothers and children. So, it is recommended to use this treatment or educational method to reduce the psychological problems of mothers of children with learning disorders.