Effectiveness of Cognitive-behavioral Therapy in Social Anxiety among Children with Type I Diabetes Mellitus

Chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, are among the healthcare issues in new communities. Diabetes, like any other chronic and debilitating diseases, poses some problems for the patients, especially the children, thereby affecting all aspects of their daily life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy in social anxiety among children with type I diabetes mellitus.

The present quasi-experimental study was conducted using a pretest-posttest design with a control group and follow-up. The study population corresponded to a group of 25 children aged 8 to 13 years with type I diabetes as diagnosed by an endocrinologist. The participants were selected using purposive sampling technique and then randomly assigned into control and intervention groups. The intervention group received 8 cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions of 45 min within 2 months. On the other hand, the control group was placed on the waiting list. The subjects completed the Social Anxiety Scale for Children-Revised (La Greca & Stone, 1993) at the pre-test and post-test stages, as well as after 45 days of follow-up. The data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA.

The results of this study showed a significant difference among the mean scores of social anxiety obtained at the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up (P<0.01). In addition, there was a significant difference between the intervention and control groups regarding the mean scores of social anxiety dimensions (P <0.05).

As the results of this study indicated, cognitive-behavioral therapy was considered an effective intervention in reducing social anxiety in children with type I diabetes mellitus, and the treatment effects were maintained until follow-up.