Comparing the effectiveness of treatment based on acceptance and commitment and cognitive-behavioral therapy on the symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder in children

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based therapy compared to the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on the symptoms of the oppositional defiant disorder in children. Method: The present study was quasi-experimental with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with an experimental and control group. In this research, the statistical population consisted of children who were referred to the education counseling center in Mazandaran in the academic year 2018-2019. A random sampling method was used for sampling, and 30 children were selected, and 10 children were randomly assigned to the experimental group of treatment based on acceptance and commitment, 10 children to the experimental group of cognitive-behavioral therapy, and 10 children to the control group. The first experimental group of Hayes' (2004) acceptance and commitment-based treatment protocol and the second experimental group of Moore and Garland's (2003) cognitive-behavioral therapy protocol received eight 60-minute sessions. All three groups were evaluated in the pre-test, post-test and follow-up stages using the Child Sickness Symptoms Questionnaire (CSI-4). Statistical data were analyzed using analysis of variance with repeated measures. Results: The findings indicate that the treatment based on acceptance and commitment and cognitive-behavioral therapy significantly reduced the symptoms of the oppositional defiant disorder in the experimental groups (F=61.46, P=0.001). The results of variance analysis with repeated measurements show that therapeutic interventions caused this reduction. Also, the effects of the interventions were stable in the follow-up phase (P=0.05). In addition, the comparison of the effectiveness of the two approaches showed no significant difference in their effect on the symptoms of oppositional disobedience. Conclusion: It can be concluded that treatment based on acceptance and commitment and cognitive-behavioral therapy can reduce children oppositional defiant disorder symptoms. Therefore, therapists and counselors who work in the field of children can use these two therapeutic approaches to reduce the symptoms of the oppositional defiant disorder in children.