The Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Training (ERT) on reducing the Impulsivity of Adolescents with Conduct Disorder in Ahvaz Correction and Rehabilitation Center

Impulsivity is one of the symptoms of conduct disorder that has been widely addressed to modify and reduce it, in this study, the effectiveness of emotion regulation training (ERT) in reducing the impulsivity of adolescents with Conduct Disorder in correction and rehabilitation centers was investigated.

The method of the present study was quasi-experimental and its design was pre-test-post-test-follow-up with the control group. This study was conducted in 2020 in the statistical population of male clients in Ahvaz correction and rehabilitation center in the age range of 15 to 18 years. 30 adolescents were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group participated in 8 sessions 90-minute focused on ERT and the control group was on the waiting list to receive the intervention. The data collection tool was a demographic questionnaire and the 11th edition of the Bart impulsivity scale, which was completed by two groups in three rounds of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between the intervention (60.25±6.28) and control (80.21±4.99) in impulsivity score (F = 62.595, P = 0.001) over time (P <0.05) and 69% of the observed differences in impulsivity score is due to the intervention.

ERT is an effective intervention in reducing impulsivity in adolescents with conduct disorder. Therefore, it is suggested that this intervention be used in other correction and rehabilitation centers across the country and other educational and medical institutions.