The Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention on Social Competence and School Refusal of Children with Separation Anxiety Disorder

Fatemeh  Motevally Joybari; Babollah  Bakhshipour Joybari; Ghodratollah Abbasi

doi:10.18502/tbj.v23i2.16099

Fatemeh Motevally Joybari PhD student in psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Sari Branch, Sari, Iran
Babollah Bakhshipour Joybari Associate Professor, Department of Counseling and Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Tehran Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran
Ghodratollah Abbasi Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/tbj.v23i2.16099

Keywords: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Social Competence, School Refusal, Separation Anxiety

Abstract

Introduction: The present study was conducted with the aim of the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral intervention on social competence and school refusal of children with separation anxiety disorder.

Methods: This research was a semi-experimental type with a pre-test-post-test design, a control group, and a three-month follow-up. The statistical population of this research includes all the mothers of elementary school students in one Sari district in the academic year of 2022-2023 who were suffering from separation anxiety disorder, 30 of them were randomly selected and replaced in two experimental and control groups. To collect data, Han and Hajinlian's separation anxiety questionnaire, social competence questionnaire by behavior problem prevention research group, and school refusal questionnaire by Carney and Silverman were used. In the experimental group, cognitive-behavioral intervention was implemented for 12 sessions of 1 hour; But, the control group did not receive any intervention. Before and after the pre-test and post-test sessions were taken from both groups. To analyze the data, analysis of variance with repeated measurements was used with SPSS version 26 software.

Results: The results of this research showed that there is a significant difference between the mean of the variable of social competence and school refusal in the pre-test-post-test and pre-test-follow-up phase compared to the control group (p<0/05).

Conclusion: Based on the results, cognitive-behavioral intervention training on mothers of children with separation anxiety disorder increased social competence and reduced school refusal in children with separation anxiety disorder; therefore, this intervention can be recommended to children with separation anxiety disorder, psychologists, and child counselors.