the effectiveness of filial therapy in reducing externalizing problems in childeren

the aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of filial therapy on decreasing the symptoms of externalizing disorders in primary school children. Fifteen children (7 girls, 8 boys) ages between seven and eight years old who obtained the highest scores in the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) were selected from 300 primary school children using multistage random sampling. The children’s mothers completed the Parental Stress Index (PSI; Abidin, 1983) and the Parental Self-Agency Measure (PSA; Dumka, 1996). The mothers received 8 filial therapy sessions in eight weeks. The mothers completed the CBCL after the second, forth, sixth, and eight sessions. At the end of the therapy sessions, the mothers completed the PSI and the PSA again. The results of repeated measure analysis indicated that the filial therapy decreased significantly he scores of the externalizing disorder and the breaking rules but had no significant effect on decreasing the aggressive behaviors scores. Therefore, our results showed that the filial therapy was an effective therapy for decreasing the PSI and increasing the PSA. The findings suggested that the filial therapy may be a suitable approach for reducing children externalizing problems in short time and have effects on parental stress and self-efficacy