Specific Aim 1. To compare the effectiveness of Parent Groups versus MBSR interventions in parents of children with ASD or other developmental disabilities.
Hypothesis 1: Mothers and fathers in both treatment groups will show reduced stress, depression, and anxiety, and increased life satisfaction, health, and well-being. Treatment effects will be more pronounced in MBSR, including more normalized diurnal cortisol patterns.
Hypothesis 2: Improved parental outcomes will persist after treatment, and relate to booster session attendance, and/or the frequency that parents practice techniques learned in each treatment. Improvements will be sustained longer in the MBSR treatment. Parental benefits will impact families, and may be associated with improved child behaviors or less family conflict.
Hypothesis 3. The composition of intervention groups in Year 2 will be adjusted based on Year 1 data, and may reflect continued separation or integration of ASD vs other disability groups, or new combinations of participants.
Specific Aim 2: To identify aspects of maternal, family or child functioning that help explain variability in responses to Parent Group or MBSR interventions.
Hypothesis 4: Mothers or fathers with relatively more stress, health or mental health problems, will show more robust treatment responses. Variability in treatment responses may be associated with child age, maternal age, family ethnicity, and child behavior problems.
Hypothesis 5. Outcomes may relate to factors in the interventionists, greater treatment responses will be found when parents are matched with peer-mentors of the same gender, ethnicity, and child diagnosis.
