Effectiveness of Anger Management and Parenting Training on the Selective Attention of Students with Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Objective:

 The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of anger management and parenting training on selective attention in students with oppositional defiant disorder.

This research was applied in terms of purpose, and quasi-experimental design of pre-test and post-test design with a control group in terms of the data nature. The statistical population included all fifthand sixth-grade elementary school students in District 9 of Tehran City in the academic year of 2019-2020, of which 45 were selected by available sampling method and randomly divided into two experimental groups and one control group. The anger management experimental group based on cognitive-behavioral approach was trained in eight 1.5hr sessions, the parenting experimental group was trained in nine 90min sessions, and the control group remained on the waiting list. The instruments used in the present study included the Scoring Scale for Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Children (Homersen et al., 2006) and the word “Stroop” color test for selective attention, which were used in two stages: pre-test and post-test.

The analysis of data obtained from the questionnaire was performed through the SPSS-V24 software in two descriptive and inferential sections (analysis of covariance).

The results revealed that the groups receiving the anger management and parenting training programs showed greater effectiveness on selective attention in students with oppositional defiant disorder than the control group. Coping had the same effect in the two groups of “anger management” and “parenting”. It seems that therapists, researchers and psychotherapists in the field of children and adolescents can use the educational programs of the present study to increase the selective attention of learners.