Enhancing Psychological Hardiness and Distress Tolerance in Mothers of Hard of Hearing Children: The Efficacy of Mindfulness Integrated with Spiritual Therapy

Abstract

Background: Hard of hearing is a prevalent disability among children that presents challenges not only for the children themselves but also for their parents. The identification of a child’s hard of hearing often triggers a series of crises within the family, particularly for the mother. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of integrating mindfulness and spiritual therapy in enhancing the psychological hardiness and distress tolerance among mothers of hard-of-hearing children. Methods: This quasi-experimental study included a pretest-posttest method and two follow-up stages with a control group. A sample 0f 60 mothers who had children with hard of hearing were selected by convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned to either the experimental group, which received mindfulness integrated with spiritual therapy (n = 30), or the control group (n = 30). Two post-test stages were conducted in both experimental and control groups and psychological hardiness and distress tolerance were evaluated using the Ahvaz Hardiness Inventory (AHI) and Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS) data were analyzed using analysis of covariance with repeated measures. Results: The mindfulness integrated with spiritual therapy had a significant effect on enhancing distress tolerance and the psychological hardiness of mothers of hard-of-hearing children There was a significant difference in the total scores of AHI and DTS between the experimental and control groups (P < 0.05). Furthermore, there was a significant difference between the pre-test, post-test, and follow-ups (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The present study supports the efficacy of integrating mindfulness and spiritual therapy for improving psychological hardiness and distress tolerance among mothers of hard-of-hearing children.