Determining the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy on Executive Functions, Behavior Control, and Emotion Regulation in Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Badaghi , Mazaher; Pirani , Zabih; Taghvaei , Davoud

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Badaghi M, Pirani Z, Taghvaei D. Determining the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy on Executive Functions, Behavior Control, and Emotion Regulation in Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. MEJDS 2024; 14 :33-33
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-2366-en.html

Determining the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy on Executive Functions, Behavior Control, and Emotion Regulation in Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Mazaher Badaghi¹

, Zabih Pirani ^*²

, Davoud Taghvaei³

1- Department of Psychology, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran
2- Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran
3- Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran

Abstract: (1898 Views)

Abstract
Background & Objectives: The most common childhood disorders are attention–deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This disorder is characterized by various traumas for the individual during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, such as emotional problems such as anxiety and depression, interpersonal issues, addiction, and educational and occupational difficulties. The main feature of this disorder is a steady decrease in attention and an increase in impulsivity. This disorder needs attention due to its importance. This disorder is associated with a lack of perseverance, distraction, difficulty concentrating, irregularity, and impulsive actions and decisions. Today, this disorder causes significant problems for many students for various reasons, affecting their family, emotional, social, and cognitive function, and then, as adults, their occupational and marital performance. Because many children receive medication and report significant side effects, the spread of non–pharmacological methods is essential, and parents, as well as children, often prefer alternative therapies. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of cognitive–behavioral play therapy on executive functions, behavior control, and emotion management in students with ADHD.
Methods: This quasi–experimental study employed a pretest–posttest and follow–up design with a control. The study's statistical population included all elementary school students with ADHD referred to counseling centers in the 2020–2019 academic year. Twenty–four qualified volunteers were selected by purposive sampling and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (each group consisted of 12 people). For data collection, we used the Groups Emotion Management Skills Questionnaire (Seiman et al., 2001), which shows the psychometric properties of Cronbach alpha between 0.62 and 0.77. The reliability of the retest for six scales is also between 0.61 and 0.8. Also, we used the Executive functions (Barclay, 2001), whose total validity of this scale with the Cronbach alpha is 0.99 and subscales 0.74 to 0.83 by Barclay and self–control (Humphrey, 1982) that the reliability of this test, using the retest correlation method was calculated at intervals of 2 to 3 weeks. The total correlation score was calculated in the range of 0.53 to 0.71. Cognitive–behavioral play therapy was performed in ten 90–minute sessions based on the Nell (2019) training package. Analysis of variance with repeated measures and Bonferroni post hoc test was used in SPSS software version 22. The significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.
Results: The results of repeated measures analysis of variance showed that cognitive–behavioral play therapy intervention improved executive functions (p<0.001), behavior control (p<0.001), and emotion management (p<0.001) of students with ADHD. Also, there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the variables of executive function defects (p= 0.002), behavior control, and emotion management in three stages: pretest, posttest, and follow–up (p<0.001). It was also shown that the effectiveness of cognitive–behavioral play therapy in the follow–up phase was stable for executive function defects and behavior control variables.
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, cognitive–behavioral play therapy effectively improves executive functions, behavior control, and emotion management of students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Keywords: Attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Behavior control, Cognitive behavioral therapy, Executive function, Play therapy

Full-Text [PDF 355 kb] (421 Downloads)

Type of Study: Original Research Article | Subject: Psychology

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