Comparison of the effectiveness of parent-centered meta-emotional education and family-centered gaim therapy on and disruptive behaviors in preschool children

Emotional and behavioral problems usually start in pre-primary school, and parent-centered meta-emotional training and family-centered play therapy are interventions that can be effective in this field. The purpose of the present study was to compare parent-centered meta-emotional education and family-centered play therapy on the disruptive behaviors of preschool children. This research was applied and its method was semi-experimental with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population of the research included preschool children in Tehran in 1400-1401, 45 of them were selected by a purposive sampling method and were divided into three equal experimental and control groups by a simple random method. The parents of the first experimental group underwent parent-centered meta-emotional education, and the parents of the second experimental group underwent family-centered play therapy, and the control group did not receive any intervention. Rater's behavioral problems questionnaire was used to collect data. Data analysis was done using analysis of variance with repeated measurements. The results showed that parent-centered meta-emotional education and family-centered play therapy had a significant effect on reducing children's behavioral problems in the post-test and follow-up phase (P<0.001). There were not significant difference between the effectiveness of the two groups (P>0.05). parent-centered meta-emotional education and family-centered play therapy can be used as an effective intervention in reducing children's behavioral problems.