Effectiveness of mindfulness-based intervention in reducing stigma stress among parents of autistic children: A...

Despite the adverse psychological effects of stigma stress on parents of autistic children, no evidence-based intervention currently exists to address this issue. While targeted interventions for stigma stress are lacking, evidence from broader literature suggests that mindfulness can be an effective skill for coping with stigma. This study developed, implemented, and evaluated a new Mindfulness-Based Stigma Stress Reduction (MBSSR) program for parents of autistic children in Hong Kong.

Participants were randomly assigned to either the MBSSR intervention group (n = 25) or a waitlist control group (n = 26). Both groups completed questionnaire measures at baseline (T1), immediately after the intervention (T2), and one month post-intervention (T3).

Compared to the control group, the intervention group showed greater reductions in stigma stress and greater improvements in psychological well-being, positive caregiving experiences (including increased perceptions of caregiving gain and reduced perceptions of caregiving burden), mindful parenting, and decreased autistic symptoms in their children. The effect sizes of these changes ranged from modest to large, with all benefits being statistically significant at the 4-week follow-up.

Our findings indicate that the MBSSR program effectively supports parents in coping with stigma and yields a wide range of benefits, simultaneously improving their mental health, caregiving perceptions, interpersonal mindfulness in parenting, and child clinical outcomes. Given these benefits, practitioners should consider integrating mindfulness training-such as the MBSSR program-into support services for families of autistic children.