Effects of a Mindfulness based Stress Reduction program on fathers of children with developmental disability

Parents of children with disabilities typically report more parenting stress and mental health difficulties than parents of children without disabilities. While the issue of parental stress in those circumstances has begun to receive considerable attention, the focus generated has been almost exclusively on mothers (Fischer, 1990). Fathers of disabled children experience stress in unique ways, stemming from feelings of inadequacy, failure, shame, and practical (and real) concerns about social and economic issues. Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an acceptance based treatment approach that has been shown to be promising in treating and/or accepting and coming to terms with the symptoms associated with a variety of physical and psychological disorders. This study aimed to contribute to the growing empirical research on the effectiveness of mindfulness as a clinical intervention, as well as bolster the paucity of data, which focus solely on the paternal experience of parental stress.;The current study utilized a multiple baseline across subjects design to examine the effectiveness of an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR: KabatZinn, 1990) program for fathers of children with developmental disabilities. Participants included 8 fathers who scored at least one standard deviation above the mean on the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form. Dependent measures were administered during the baseline phase, during treatment sessions, and at the 2 week follow-up. In addition to self-report measures, participants' cortisol, a behavioral measure of stress reactivity, were measured pre and post intervention and at the 2 week follow-up;Although visual inspection suggested that a majority of the participants demonstrated changes in the predicted direction on some of the dependent measures from baseline to the end of treatment, hypotheses for the most part were not supported by statistical analysis. None of the participants demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in parenting stress or increase of mindfulness skills; however five of the participants demonstrated a significant decrease in levels of cortisol. Furthermore a majority of the participants anecdotally reported that they benefited from participation in the program Strengths and limitations of the study, as well as suggestions for future research were presented along with theoretical and practical implications of results.