Effectiveness of mother-child Transactional Analysis (TA) group therapy on attachment security in 6 to 10 years old boys suffering from oppositional defiant disorder

Aim: The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of mother-child Transactional Analysis group therapy on attachment security in 6 to 10 year old boys suffering from oppositional defiant disorder.
This quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest design with three-month follow-up and statistical populations were 148 pre and primary school children who were referred to Khomein Education Counseling Center in the academic year 2016 - 2017. After screening, 24 students who had the highest scores in Gadow and Sprafkin, parent version of the Child Symptom Inventory (2007) and Waters’s Attachment 1987 Q-Sort, were selected with their mothers and were randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. Then Eric Berne's 1961 Transactional Analysis training treatment was conducted for mothers in the experimental group for 80 minutes once a week for 8 weeks. Data were analyzed using mixed variance repeated measures.
Findings indicated a significant difference between the performance of the two groups in the attachment security (F= 59.20, P= 0.001) and oppositional defiant disorder (F= 15.42, P= 0.001), in post-test and after three months of follow up.
Considering that transactional analysis training can increase mother-child interactions and security level of their attachment, it has important developmental consequences. So it seems in clinical situations with implementing these interventions and promotion of mental health of parents, positive and steady steps can be taken to reduce and relieve children's behavioral problems.