Background: Mothers of children with specific learning disorders face numerous
psychological and emotional challenges that can affect their resilience, empathy,
and mental health. Positive thinking training, as a psychological intervention, can
improve these aspects and enhance the quality of life for these mothers.
Aim: Objective: The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness
of positive thinking training on resilience, empathy, and psychological distress of
mothers of children with specific learning disorders.
Methodology: This study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretestposttest
approach and a control group. The statistical population consisted of 342
mothers of children with specific learning disorders in Bushehr city, from which 46
mothers were conveniently selected based on the study’s inclusion criteria and
randomly assigned to two groups of 23 (experimental and control). The Connor-
Davidson Resilience Scale (2003), Davis Empathy Questionnaire (1983), and Kessler
Psychological Distress Scale (2003) were used in this study. The positive thinking
intervention was conducted over 10 sessions of 90 minutes each for the experimental
group, and the data were analyzed using analysis of variance in SPSS version 26.
Findings: Results showed that positive thinking training significantly improved
resilience (54%, p<0.05), empathy (62%, p<0.03), and reduced psychological distress
(74%, p<0.001) in mothers. Resilience scores increased from 97.67 to 112.85, empathy
from 46.31 to 85.68, and psychological distress significantly decreased. These effects
remained stable at follow-up, while the control group showed minimal changes.
Analysis of variance and Bonferroni tests confirmed significant and sustained
intervention effects in the experimental group, with significant group and time
differences.
Conclusion: Positive thinking training effectively enhances resilience and empathy
while reducing psychological distress in mothers of children w