the effect of cognitive-behavioral play therapy on emotion regulation and separation anxiety: a quasi-experimental study in elementary-school children in isfahan

Background and objective: emotion regulation and separation anxiety are some of the problems faced by elementary-school students. this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral play therapy (cbpt) on emotion regulation and separation anxiety of elementary-school children in isfahan. methods: this quasi-experimental study was conducted using a pretest-posttest design with a control group. the statistical population included all male elementary-school students in isfahan, iran in 2020. using the convenience sampling method, 30 students were selected and divided into experimental and control groups (n= 15 per group). the experimental group underwent eight sessions (one 30-minute group session per week) of cbpt, while the control group received no intervention. the research tools included the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (cerq) and the separation anxiety assessment scale-parent version (saas-p). data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance in spss 22 software. findings: the participants included 30 elementary-school students, aged 9.12±1.35 years old. the mean ± sd of the post-test scores of emotion regulation and separation anxiety in the cbpt group was 58.26±1.96 and 45.26±1.08 and was 52.26±1.96 and 76.33±2.67 for the control group. the results indicated that cbpt improved emotion regulation and reduced separation anxiety in elementary-school students (p= 0.001). conclusion: it can thus be concluded that play therapy with a cognitive-behavioral approach can mitigate anxiety and improve emotion regulation in elementary-school students.