The effect of group guidance program on the perceived stress level of mothers who have children with autism

The aim of this research is to determine the effect of group guidance program on the perceived stress level of mothers who have children with autism. The participants of the research, which is an experimental study, consists of 76 mothers who are between 30-55 age range, whose children are diagnosed with autism and directed to the Special Education Application School by the Guidance and Research Center. For the purpose of collecting the research data, primarily, Perceived Stress Scale was administered to 76 mothers who have children with autism. Subsequently, the arithmetic mean and standard deviation of the scores obtained from the Perceived Stress Scale were calculated (X=21.68; sd=5.84) and 32 mothers whose perceived stress score was half of a standard deviation above the mean of the group were determined that they had a high perceived stress score. Mothers with high perceived stress scores were interviewed individually, were informed about the research and among them, 20 mothers who could participate in the research voluntarily were determined as the research group. Two groups paired according to demographic characteristics were identified and assigned as experimental and control groups through random sampling. The mothers who are in the experimental group received 8 sessions of 'stress management group guidance program', which lasted approximately 90 minutes, one day a week. The mothers in the experimental and control groups were administrated a final test at the end of the group guidance program and the Perceived Stress Scale as a follow-up test two months after the end of the group guidance program. Friedman Test, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and Mann Whitney U Test were used to analyze the data. As a result of the study, it is found that the group guidance program is effective in reducing the perceived stress levels of mothers who have children with autism and this effect is found permanent according to the follow-up test measurement. The results of the research are discussed and interpreted together with the relevant research and suggestions are presented.