The Effectiveness of Cognitive- Behavioral Therapy on Psychological Problems and Self- Determination in Mothers with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

   Background and Aim: Autism is one of the complex developmental disabilities that challenges not only the individual, but also the family and society. The aim of this study was to effectiveness the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on psychological problems and self-determination in mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder.    Method: The present study was conducted in a quasi-experimental manner with a pretest-posttest design with a control and follow-up group. The statistical population included all mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder who referred to the counseling centers of psychological services in Sari in 2020 in 156, of which 30 were selected by available sampling method and randomly. In two groups of 15 people were included in the study. To collect the required data from the anxiety, depression and stress questionnaires of Lavibund and Lavibund (1995) and self-determination of Lagarde & et al (2000) and also for therapeutic intervention from the cognitive-behavioral therapy protocol Houghton & et al (1990) were used. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance and SPSS24 software at a significance level of 0.05.    Results: The results showed that cognitive-behavioral therapy had a reducing effect on the variable of psychological problems (P˂0.001) and an increasing effect on the variable of self-determination (P˂0.036). The results of Benferoni post hoc test showed a significant difference between the means of the experimental group in the pre-test with post-test (P˂0.001) and pre-test with follow-up (P˂0.001) for the variables of psychological problems and self-determination.    Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, it is concluded that cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention can reduce psychological problems and increase self-determination of mothers with children with autism spectrum disorder.