Effectiveness of Social Skill Training with Cognitive-Behavioral Approach in Reducing the Symptoms of Internalizing Behavioral Disorders in Students

According to in creasing the prevalence of internalizing behavioral disorders in students and experts’ emphasis on early diagnosis and intervention, aim of the present study was examining the effectiveness of social skill training with cognitive-Behavioral Approach on Reducing Symptoms of Internalizing Behavioral Disorders in Students. The method of the research is experimental and research design was pretest, post-test with control group and a two-month follow-up. Statistical population included all female elementary students in 5th and 6th grades with internalizing behavioral disorders in Langrood city in 2012-13 academic years. 30 individuals were selected by random multistage clustering and divided in two experimental and control groups. In order to evaluate the internalizing behavioral disorders, child behavior checklist was used. Walker social skills training curriculum was presented in 17 sessions during two months for members of experimental group. Repeated Measures ANCOVA was used for data analysis. Results indicated that there was a significant difference between the rate of symptoms of internalizing behavioral disorders in both control and experimental group in post-test and follow up stages. Based on the effectiveness of social skill training in the reduction of symptoms of internalizing behavioral disorders, it could be used besides school formal curriculum.