Effects of anger management workshops on mothers of children with special needs

Anger has always been recognized as a natural emotion of human being, however, inappropriate expression of anger has negative consequences such as destructive effects on the living quality of the family, interpersonal behaviour and mental states of the individuals. For this reason, conducting research in the area of anger management is considered to be very important. The present research is designed to examine the efficacy of anger management training on mothers of educable mentally retarded and slow learner children. The design of this study is quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and control group. This study was conducted on 46 mothers who were assigned equally into experimental and control groups. Data were collected utilizing Anger Evaluation Questionnaire. The anger management program, based on the cognitive-behavioural approach, was implemented on experimental group during seven sessions. The findings, based on the Analysis of Covariance, revealed that anger management training decreased the intensity of anger in anger-eliciting situations and increased the use of anger control strategies. Finally, the implications of the study, limitations and suggestions for future research are presented.