The effectiveness of parent-child interaction therapyon executive functions and empathy in children withbehavioral emotional disorders: A single subject study

Children with emotional-behavioral disorders suffer from disorders in various areas due to psychological trauma. Considering the relationship between executive functions and empathy with parenting and interactive style, this study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of parentchild interaction therapy on executive actions and empathy of children with behavioral emotional disorders.

The present study is an experimental with A-B-A design. The statistical population was male children with emotional and behavioral disorders in Qazvin province in 2019 and the research sample consisted of 3 male students studying in the first grade of primary school who were diagnosed with a disorder in multidimensional assessment. They were selected by purposive sampling. Therapeutic sessions consisted of 12 sessions of 1 hour per week based on an intervention program parent-child interaction. The research instruments were Achenbach’s Child Behavior Inventory- Parent Form, the College Executive function Questionnaire, and the Children’s Empathy Questionnaire, and Children’s Empathy Questionnaire. After drawing the graph, the effectiveness of the independent variable on the dependent was investigated and analyzed by the method of statistical visual analysis and with the help of the percentage of improvement and the trend of changes.

The results showed that the intervention in all 3 subjects reduced the deficit of executive actions and improved empathy in the intervention and follow-up stages.

This treatment is effective in improving emotional-behavioral disorders as well as promoting empathy and reducing the reducing of executive deficits in those disorders, so it can be used as a complementary method for the main therapies in the field of education and rehabilitation