Effect of Child-Parent Relationship Therapy on the Severity of Separation Anxiety Disorder in Children: A Clinical Trial with a Parallel Groups Study Design

Separation anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common mental disorders in childhood. Inattention to treat this disorder can be a risk factor for other childhood and adolescence mental disorders.

We aimed at investigating the effectiveness of child-parent relationship therapy (CPRT) in children with SAD.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted in a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The research population consisted of preschool and first-grade students in primary schools in Zanjan, Iran. Twenty-four mothers whose children were diagnosed with anxiety disorder were selected nonrandomly (volunteers to participate in the research), but they were randomly assigned to the control and intervention groups. The Children's Symptoms Inventory questionnaire (CSI-4) was used to diagnose separation anxiety. Also, the parent-child relationship assessment questionnaire (MCRE), Sherer General Adult Inventory Questionnaire, and Parent Stress Index Questionnaire (PSI) were completed before and after the treatment. The intervention group received ten sessions of 2 hours of group training on CPRT, while the control group did not receive any intervention. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) were used to analyze the data.

The results of covariance analysis showed that the severity of anxiety symptoms were significantly decreased in the experimental group (p>0.05). It also reduced mothers' stress (83%), increased mothers’ self-efficacy (77%), and improved mother-child relationships.

Child-parent relationship therapy can be an effective intervention in reducing the symptoms of child separation anxiety, and it can be employed as an educational protocol for reducing tension, increasing mothers' self-efficacy, and improving mother-child relationships. Due to the limited sample size of the present study, it is suggested that a study with a larger sample size be conducted to confirm the findings of this study.