Effecacy of painting therapy in reducing aggression in children with conduct disorder

Abstract

Background: The present study was carried out to examine the effectiveness of painting therapy in reducing aggression in children with conduct disorder. Methods: This study was a semi-experimental research (pretest-posttest with control group design) in which the statistical population consisted of thirty 8-12 year-old children with conduct disorder who were studying in Parsabad city in the academic year of 2013-2014 and were selected through convenience sampling method. Then, they were divided into two equal groups (experimental and control) using sample random sampling. The instruments for data collection consisted of Raven's intelligence test, child symptom inventory-4 and Eysenck aggression inventory. The experimental underwent painting therapy for 12 sessions and every session lasted 40 minutes. The obtained data were analyzed by ANCOVA and t-test for dependent and independent groups. Results: There was not a significant difference between the mean aggression scores of experimental group in the post-test and follow up compared with pre-test. Also, a significant difference was reported between the mean aggression scores of experimental and control groups in post-test and follow up phases (P<0.05). Conclusion: Painting therapy is an effective method in reducing aggression in children with conduct disorder.