Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy on Executive Functions in Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral play therapy and parent-child interaction therapy on executive functions in children with oppositional defiant disorder. The method of this study is quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design and a control group and the study is applied in terms of objective. The statistical population of the study includes girls with oppositional defiant disorder studying in first to third grade in Tonekabon City during the 2019-2020 school year. A two-stage sampling procedure was used to select 39 samples through screening, which were divided into three cognitive-behavioral play therapy and parent-child interaction therapy and control groups through homogenization and randomization. The present research instruments include the Child Symptom Inventory (CSI), the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), the cognitive-behavioral play therapy package, and the parent-child interaction therapy package. The data of the study were analyzed using the covariance analysis method and SPSS-24 software. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral play therapy and parent-child interaction therapy on behavioral regulation with an Eta coefficient of 0.765 and metacognitive skills with an Eta coefficient of 0.779 in children with oppositional defiant disorder (P=0.001). Both therapies seem to be effective in improving the executive functions of children with oppositional defiant disorder, but cognitive-behavioral play therapy was more effective.