Lobato, D., Montesinos, F., & Flujas-Contreras, J. M. (2022). Psychological Flexibility Is Associated with Parental Stress in Relatives of People with Intellectual Disabilities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(10), 6118. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106118
The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between psychological flexibility, perceived stress, and psychological heath in relatives of people with a disability diagnosis. 151 relatives completed an online questionnaire that included 6-PAQ (parental psychological flexibility), PSS (perceived stress), GHQ-12 (psychological health) and WBSI (suppression of unwanted thoughts). The results showed significant relationships between the four measured variables. A bimodal distribution was observed in the variables related to psychological flexibility. The multiple regression showed that difficulties in self as context, committed actions and defusion explain a high percentage of the variance of parental stress and general psychological health. The study provides new evidence to consider psychological flexibility as a mediating variable in psychological well-being. The presented data served as the basis for the development of an ACT-based intervention protocol and the implementation of a clinical trial for relatives of children with disabilities.