THE EFFECT OF AN ANXIETY- COPING PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN BASED ON COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL APPROACH ON 4TH GRADERS' ANXIETY LEVELS

Back to Page Authors: Aykut Kul, Zeynep Hamamcı

Keywords: anxiety, children, cognitive behavioral approach, group therapy

Abstract: Anxiety problems are very common in children and adolescents (Albano, Chorpita and Barlow, 2003). Most anxious adults report that their anxiety problems come from their childhood (Rapee and Barlow, 1993). These anxiety problems are also known to cause functional impairments in several life areas such as academic achievement, family settings and social relationships. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of an anxiety-coping program for children based on cognitive behavioral approach upon children’s anxiety levels. 12 4th grade primary school students participated to the study. Both experimental and control groups consisted of six participants. In the study, The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) which was adapted into Turkish by Karaceylan-Çakmakçı (2004) was used as data collection tool. In the research, students in the experimental group participated in a CBT based anxiety coping program consisting of a total of eight sessions, two sessions for each week. No study was conducted with the students in the control group. A mixed design of 2x3 (experimental and control * pre-test, post-test and follow-up) was used in the study. Follow-up measurement was done six months later after the study was completed. Mann-Whitney U test was used to investigate the significance of the differences between the groups. Additionally, Friedman test was conducted to examine significant differences between measurements within groups. As a result of the statistical analysis, a significant decrease was observed in the anxiety levels of the participants in the experimental group after the intervention and this decrease continued in the follow-up period. The findings indicated that the anxiety-coping program for children based on cognitive behavioral approach which was developed by the researcher was effective in terms of decreasing the general anxiety, seperation anxiety, social anxiety levels of children. On the other hand, according to the results of the Friedman test, when the scores of the control group in terms of general anxiety level, Panic Disorders/Somatic Symptoms, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety and Social Anxiety and School Phobia pre-test, post-test and follow-up scores were examined, it was concluded that there was no significant difference between these three measurements. Another reason may be that the anxieties of children involved in the study are often anxiety of separation and specific phobias such as spiders, snakes, monsters. The researcher adapted the activities of the sessions according to the anxiety types experienced by the group more intensively while preparing the anxiety coping program and these anxieties were practiced more frequently during the process. It is thought that this decrease in the scores of the control group may have several reasons. The first one may be that the pre-test measurement date is equal to one week before the exam week. It is thought that students may have increased anxiety levels due to upcoming exams. As the post-test measurements taken after the application corresponded to the school report week, it is foreseen that the students may have fallen from school and examination stress and their anxiety may have decreased in a certain amount. On the other hand, although there is no intervention in the control group, there is no information about whether children experience life events to reduce their anxiety levels, such as getting an education about their concerns or meeting with a mental health professional. It is thought that such situations may cause decrease in the anxiety levels of the students in the control group.