Abstract
Objective: To ascertain the problematic behaviors of children with developmental disorders through their parents who conduct the exercises based on the mindful life approach. Subject: 22 Parents having children with developmental disorders agreed to join in our study. The number of children of the above was 14 boys and two girls. Most of the children were given a single diagnosis of PDD (43.8%) or a dual diagnosis of PDD and ADHD (43.8%). Method: Before and after the three workshops, three self-administered questionnaires of the Japanese version of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) 4-18, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were assessed. Result: The changes of scores of the Externalizing scale and Aggressive behavior of CBCL in children had significantly decreased at the end of observation (p<0.05). For the changes in trait anxiety of the two parental groups of the more (N=6) or the less (N=5) improved regarding their children’s score of the Aggressive behavior scale score of CBCL, the average in the last half of assessments was significantly lower than the average of the first half in the more improved group (p<0.05). The average of CES-D score in the more improved group (N=6) in Aggressive behavior scale score of CBCL was lower than in the less improved group (N=5) (p<0.01). For the changes of state anxiety scores, the average score of the more improved group (N=6) of the Externalizing scale of CBCL was significantly lower than that of the less improved group (N=5) within the observed period (p<0.001). Conclusion: This study showed that the anti-social behaviours of the children with developmental disorders had been lowered by the improvements of their parent’s mental states involving anxiety and depression through their mindful life exercises in daily situation.
Highlights
The studies of developmental disorders using mindfulness have increased, especially for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) [1,2,3], Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) [4] and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) [5]
This study showed that the anti-social behaviours of the children with developmental disorders had been lowered by the improvements of their parent’s mental states involving anxiety and depression through their mindful life exercises in daily situation
We have developed a program based on the above life model and have named it ‘the mindful life approach’
Summary
The studies of developmental disorders using mindfulness have increased, especially for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) [1,2,3], Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) [4] and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) [5]. Few studies have been conducted on the parents of children with such disorders [6]. Parents of children with developmental disorders have experienced more stress than parents in the general population [7]. When their children engage in challenging or problematic behaviors, the stress of their parents increases [8,9]. They are considered to shoulder a great burden in bringing up their children who have behavioral and social problems [1013]. A certain support for such parents is needed to reduce their daily stress related to bringing up their children
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