Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Based on "Coping Cat" Program in Treatment of Separation Anxiety Disorder

The purpose of the present study was evaluating the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy based on "coping cat" program in treatment of separation anxiety disorder (SAD) in aged 8-13 children. The research design was quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, follow-up with the control group. The statistical population included all students aged 8-13 (boys and girls) with SAD symptoms at schools in Songhor city in 2022. By purposeful sampling method, 36 children were selected and assigned equally to experimental and control groups. After performing the separation anxiety scale (parental version), as pre-test, the experimental group received 16 sessions one-hour of treatment two sessions per week. Then, post-test was performed and 2 months later, follow-up test was performed. Data were analyzed by mixed analysis of variance with repeated measure. The results showed that experimental group scores, compared with the control group, had a significant decrease in the post-test stage. Also, therapeutic gains had maintained in the follow-up stage. It can be concluded that cognitive-behavioral therapy based on "coping cat" program can reduce the symptoms of SAD in children. It is recommended to be used by psychotherapists in the treatment of SAD.