The effectiveness of the Educational Package based on the Lived Experience of Mothers with Multi-Disabled Children with Ataxia on Improving Depression

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of the educational package based on the lived experience of mothers with multi-disabled children with emotional dyslexia on the improvement of depression.    Methodology: The method of this research was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the research includes all mothers with multi-disabled children whose children were studying in Golhai Shiraz exceptional school in 1400-1401. Among the mothers, 30 mothers were selected as available and were randomly assigned to an experimental group (15 people) and a control group (15 people). Then, the pre-test of the research variables was carried out and the mothers of the experimental group were trained for 12 sessions on alexithymia. After the completion of the training, a post-test of the experimental and control groups was conducted. Research data were collected through alexithymia (Toronto, 1994) and depression (Beck, 1961) questionnaires. The data were analyzed by intragroup-intergroup multiple covariance analysis.    Findings: The results showed that the alexithymia training program improved depression in mothers of children with multiple disabilities.    Conclusion: Based on the findings, since the program developed in this research was based on the real experiences of mothers of children with multiple disabilities, and it was developed specifically for these mothers, and the psychometric features of the program were confirmed by experts in this field, and in a way, it was related to the issues and it has addressed the psychological problems of mothers and the behavioral problems of children, it has been more effective.