Psychological inflexibility and adherence to the therapy among parents of autistic children

Abstract

The parenting strategies applied to address the developmental demands of children with autism generate emotional difficulties, affect the emission of behaviors related to their children’s psychological processes, and consequently influence therapeutic adherence. This study aimed to determine the relationships among the different processes of psychological inflexibility (experiential avoidance, obstruction, cognitive fusion) and therapeutic adherence (communication and actions) among parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (asd). The sample consisted of 25 parents between 30 and 62 years old (M = 40; ds = 1.45) of children diagnosed with asd who were undergoing behavioral modification therapy. The data were collected through a sociodemographic data survey, the Therapeutic Adherence Scale, the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (cfq), the Valuing Questionnaire (vq), and the Experiential Avoidance Scale (aaq-II). The analysis was done using a retrospective simple ex post facto group design. The structural equation analyses revealed that parents show patterns of psychological inflexibility, which affect the behaviors related to treatment adherence.