A Comparison of the Effectiveness of the Philosophy for Children Program and Group Play Therapy with Cognitive-Behavioral Method on Psychological Flexibility in Children with Separation Anxiety Disorder

Document Type : Scientific- research

Authors

1 PhD Student of General Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch, Arak, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch, Arak, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch, Arak, Iran.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the philosophy for children program and group play therapy with cognitive-behavioral method on psychological flexibility in children with separation anxiety disorder. The research method was quasi-experimental of the pre-test-post-test design and follow-up with the control group. The statistical population included children aged 6 to 12 years who had referred to Shamim Counseling Center in Kermanshah in 2019-2020. The sample group consisted of 30 children with separation anxiety. The sample was selected through purposive sampling and random replacement. First, the Separation Anxiety Questionnaire and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test were administered to all three groups (pre-test). Then, the participants of the first group received a philosophy for children program, and the second group received group play therapy, while the control group did not receive any educational intervention. Then, all the three groups were re-evaluated with the aforementioned questionnaires (post-test). The follow-up stage was held two months later. Data analysis was performed using multivariate analysis of covariance. Both the philosophy for children program and the cognitive-behavioral group play therapy had a significant effect on increasing psychological flexibility (p < 0.05, F = 1/031). However, in this study, the effectiveness of the philosophy for children program was higher than play therapy.

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