ArticleJournal of autism and developmental disorders2026
Compassion-Focused Therapy for Mothers of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Impact on Parental Burnout, Self-Criticism, and Psychological Distress.
Article in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
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Abstract
purposeMothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently experience a substantial caregiving burden that heightens their vulnerability to parental burnout, harsh self-criticism, and severe psychological distress. This study evaluated the efficacy of compassion-focused therapy (CFT) in reducing parental burnout, self-criticism, and psychological distress among mothers of children with ASD.
methodsA pretest-posttest experimental design with a waitlist control group and a 3-month follow-up was employed. The target population consisted of mothers of children with ASD attending rehabilitation centers, psychology clinics, and autism associations in Ahvaz, Iran, in 2025. Using purposive sampling, 64 eligible mothers were recruited and randomly assigned to the experimental or control group (n = 32 per group). The experimental group received eight weekly 70-min CFT sessions, while the control group received no intervention. Data were collected using the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-Third Edition (GARS-3), Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA), Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS), and 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21).
resultsRepeated measures ANOVA revealed significant main effects of time and group, along with significant time-by-group interactions across all variables. At posttest, CFT significantly reduced parental burnout, self-criticism, and psychological distress in the experimental group compared with the control group (p<.01). These gains were maintained at the 3-month follow-up, demonstrating the intervention's enduring efficacy.
conclusionThe findings indicate that CFT is an effective intervention for alleviating these psychological burdens. Integrating CFT into family support programs is strongly recommended to enhance the long-term psychological well-being of mothers raising children with ASD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.