The Effectiveness of a Coping Cat Program on Symptoms of Anxiety Disorders in Primary Schools

Abstract

Background: Anxiety disorders are the most common disorders in children that affect the psychological and social functioning of the child. Recently, researchers have used the coping cat programs as a way to reduce anxiety disorders. Therefore the current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a coping cat program on symptoms of anxiety disorders in primary schools. Materials and Method: This study was performed in a pre-test, post-test compared to the control group. The statistical population included all children aged 8 to 11 years with anxiety disorders in five state primary schools in the second district of Bandar Abbas, Iran in 2019. The sampling using a questionnaire (SCAS), 32 children with anxiety disorders were selected from schools and randomly divided into control (n=16), and experimental (n=16) groups. Members of the experimental group were (CCP) training intervention for 16 sessions, twice a week for 45-minute. The control group did not receive any intervention. The anxiety was assessed one week after intervention by The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) in the control and experimental groups. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 23. Results: The experimental and control groups were homogeneous before intervention. The mean anxiety in the intervention group after the coping cat program including the Separation anxiety disorder (‎3.56±2.09)‎, Panic disorder (‎‎2.12±2.15), Obsessive-compulsive (3.81±2.007)‏‎, physical injury fears (4.06±3.08‏‎) was significantly lower than that in the control group (9.81±3.54), (7±3.07), (9.43±3.28) and (7.37±3.36) respectively (P <0.05). Conclusion: The results showed that (CCP) in 16 sessions by recognizing the symptoms of unwanted anxiety in children and using these symptoms to apply anxiety management strategies leads to a reduction of anxiety disorders in children.