Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract
Objective: Attention deficit /Hyperactivity disorder is a neurological disorder with symptoms of hyperactivity/ impulsiveness. Impulsiveness is one of the main symptoms of attention deficit /hyperactivity disorder. In the past few decades, childhood impulsiveness has been one of the most widely studied topics in child development. Impulsiveness affects people's lives in the future causing many problems like the destruction of relationships with peers, financial management, excessive drug abuse, and risky driving. This study was performed to examine the efficacy of art therapy with painting approach on Impulsiveness of children with Attention deficit /Hyperactivity disorder.
Methods: the study is an experimental survey with pretest-posttest design and control group. The statistical population included all primary school children aged between 8 to 12 years in the urban district number three in Kermanshah city during 2015-2016. In cluster sampling stage, 5 schools were selected and after completing the questionnaire and meeting the entry conditions of the study, 24 students were assigned randomly to control and experimental groups. Inclusion criteria included attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder and lack of other disorders, aged 8-12 years, second to sixth grade, cooperation and consent of parents and teachers, lack of other therapies such as pharmacotherapy. Sessions for experimental group were performed in 9 sessions over a period of 45 to 60 minutes, twice a week. Art Therapy program retrieved from "group art project for children with autism". The program sessions aimed to encourage physical and verbal interaction, brainstorming teamwork, friendship, intimacy, attention to detail and groups, increased control, working together, respecting turn, fine motor skills, body awareness and body language in the form of art and design have been as enjoyable and comfortable for children. To assess impulsiveness in this study the Self-Restraint Scale was used, the test was developed in 1990 by Weinberger and Schwartz. It is a self-administered questionnaire with 30 statements and evaluates the degree of emotional inhibition. The Scale of inhibition has an overall score and four subscales include: anger, impulse control, respect for others, and responsibility. In present study, impulse control subscale was used to assess impulsiveness of children, Low score in impulse control indicates high impulsiveness and high score in control impulsiveness indicates low impulsiveness. Both groups were evaluated by Self-Restraint Scale of Weinberger & Schwartz in pre and posttests. Data analysis was performed in two stages: descriptive and inferential. At the descriptive level we used the mean and standard deviation, and according to the established important assumptions of the analysis covariance, this test was used.
Results: The results showed that the level of impulse control increased in children who participated in art therapy sessions Compared to the control group who received no intervention. This means that impulsiveness is reduced in the experimental group (p<0.001)
Conclusion: We can conclude that art therapy intervention resulted in significant differences between the experimental and control groups, In fact, the presence in the experimental group and receiving experimental program can decrease impulsiveness in the group. Since these children often face problems with impulse control and high impulsiveness is an important issue in working with these children, choose a treatment method that primarily be able to communicate with these children and attract them to continue the therapy and finally be effective and useful to solve the problems of these children, is an important issue. According to the findings of this study it can be concluded that art therapy can increase impulse control and reduce impulsiveness in these children. Since the most important way to enter the world of children is painting, in this way the problems of children can be realized and to some degree can be moved in order to solve the problems caused by lack of impulse control. With respect to what was said, if impulsiveness is left untreated in these children, it may lead to irreversible problems in adolescence and adulthood. Thus, treatment effectiveness would be more if the diagnosis and treatment of problems in these children is realized in younger ages,. Due to the effectiveness of art therapy to reduce impulsiveness in children with Attention deficit/Hyperactivity disorder, Psychologists and pediatricians recommended to use this therapeutic method in order to reduce the impulsiveness of these children.