Enhancing parental well-being and coping through a family-centred short course for Iranian parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder.
A seven-session parent support group in Iran cut stress and boosted coping for moms and dads of kids with ASD, with gains holding 15 weeks.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Samadi et al. (2013) ran a seven-session family-centred group course for Iranian moms and dads of children with autism.
Parents met once a week to share stories, learn coping tools, and build support networks.
No control group was used; parents answered surveys before, after, and 15 weeks later.
What they found
Stress dropped and emotional well-being rose right after the course.
Gains held steady 15 weeks later, and parents used more problem-focused coping.
Family life also ran more smoothly, parents reported.
How this fits with other research
Fahmie et al. (2013) meta-analysis shows parents of kids with autism feel far higher stress than other parents; the Iranian course offers one way to ease that load.
Allen et al. (2016) ran a similar brief group for new-diagnosis moms and saw the same drop in distress, giving a close replication.
Dai et al. (2025) now supersedes the 2013 work: their RCT paired hospital DTT with coached home practice and cut stress even more while also lifting child skills.
Dababnah et al. (2025) extends the idea to East-African immigrant families using Zoom, proving short parent courses travel across cultures and screens.
Why it matters
You can run a low-cost, seven-week parent circle in any clinic or community room.
Start with shared stories, add coping skills, and keep the group small; the Ali study says benefits last at least three months.
If you want stronger child gains too, follow Dai’s lead and weave parent coaching into daily routines.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) generally experience high levels of stress and report poorer emotional well-being and family functioning compared to parents of children with other disabilities. They also tend to rely on emotional rather than problem-focused coping strategies. Seven group-based sessions were offered to two groups of parents of children with ASD in Iran (37 in all). In addition to providing information about ASD emphasis was placed on families sharing their experiences and learning from one another. A pre-post, cross-over design was used to evaluate the specific impact of the course. The changes found among the parents in the first group were replicated with the second group. Moreover the changes were sustained up to 15 weeks after the course ended. Although there were variations across the parents, in general they reported feeling less stress, had better emotional wellbeing and family functioning and made more use of problem-focused coping strategies. The changes were attributed mainly to an increase in the informal supports among the parents and their feelings of empowerment. A resource pack has been developed to enable the group sessions to be easily repeated and for facilitators to be trained in its use.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2013 · doi:10.1177/1362361311435156