Comparative Effects of Mindfulness and Support and Information Group Interventions for Parents of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Disabilities.

Yona and colleagues ran a community group for parents of adults with autism or other developmental disabilities. Half the parents learned mindfulness skills. The other half got the usual support and information.

The study tracked parent distress for twenty weeks to see which group fared better.

The mindfulness parents showed clear drops in psychological distress. The support-only parents did not improve.

Gains lasted the full twenty weeks with no extra booster sessions.

Hartley et al. (2019) pooled ten mindfulness studies and saw the same wellbeing lift for caregivers. Their meta gives the 2017 result more weight.

Lee et al. (2022) looked at thirty-seven parent programs. Most parent training gave only tiny mental-health gains. Mindfulness seems to beat standard training.

Sutton et al. (2022) tested a similar eight-week mindfulness group for parents of young children. They found large stress drops, backing the adult-child pattern.

Feng et al. (2025) surveyed 181 parents and showed why mindfulness works: it boosts psychological flexibility and resilience, which then lower stress.

If you run parent support groups, swap one session for mindfulness practice. Teach simple breathing or body-scan exercises. Parents of adult clients often feel left out; a low-cost mindfulness module can cut their distress without extra staff.