Effect of resilience training on stress, hope and psychological toughness of mothers with mentally and physically disabled children

Abstract

Introduction: The present study aimed at determining the impact of resilience training on stress, hope and psychological toughness of mothers with mentally and physically disabled children. Materials and methods In this interventional study, 70 parents of children with mental and physical disabilities were selected in an accessible manner and then classified into two control and intervention groups by random block allocation. In the intervention group, nine endurance training sessions were held for 60 min, one session per week at the welfare and rehabilitation center for mothers. Immediately before and one month after the intervention, the parenting stress, hope and psychological toughness questionnaire was completed by the mothers. The data were analyzed using Chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis, Fisher's exact test and t-test by SPSS software (version 23) at a significance level of 0.05. Results There was no significant difference in the parental stress between before and after the intervention in the both intervention and control groups (0.370), but it was significant after the intervention (0.001). Moreover, no significant difference was observed in parental hope before the intervention (0.452), while it was significant after the intervention (0.001). Parental psychological toughness was not significant before the intervention (0.179), while it was significant after the intervention (0.000). Conclusion Based on the results, resilience training reduced parental stress and increased hope and tenacity in mothers of the test group. Therefore, resilience training is recommended to reduce parental stress and increased hope and psychological toughness of mothers of mentally and physically disabled children.