P-482 - Effects of group counseling with cognitive-behavioural approach on reducing divorce children's depression

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to determine the effect of group counseling with cognitive - behavioral approach on reducing depression in children of divorce supported by Tehran welfare centers. The research method was quasi experimental with pre test-post test design and control group. A sample of 20 children who resident in two residential welfare centers in Tehran was selected by an available sampling method. Using Maria Kovacs (1977) children's depression questionnaire (CDI) as a pre test indicated that all participants were depressed. Then the two centers were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received training - treatment program in 8 sessions (each one hour). Finally, all participants answered the questionnaire in post test and Hypotheses were tested by co-variance analysis. Results indicated that the post-test values have been affected by the group counseling by 85.5% (F = 94.263, P < 0.01). Moreover, group counseling has an effect on decreasing the level of children's insufficiency by 25.3% (F = 5.088, P < 0.05). According to the results it could be concluded that group counseling with cognitive-behavioral approach had a positive effect on reducing depression and insufficiency.