Comparison of the effectiveness of FRIENDS program training and Cognitive-behavioral play therapy on the adjustment of children with cancer

Authors

1 PhD Student in Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Studies have shown that children with cancer, in addition to physical problems, have psychological problems such as maladaptation. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the effectiveness of FRIENDS program training and play therapy on the adjustment of children with cancer.
Method: The research method was applied in terms of purpose and quasi-experimental in terms of implementation method with pre-test-post-test design with two experimental groups and a control group. From 7 to 12-year-old children with cancer referred to Loghman Hospital in Tehran, using the available method, 45 of them were selected as a research sample and randomly assigned to three groups of FRIENDS program, play therapy and control. The research tool was the Tobacco Children Adaptation Questionnaire. After collecting the research data, the method of covariance and Bonferroni post hoc test were used for analysis.
Results: The results of covariance showed that both FRIENDS and play therapy methods are effective in increasing the adaptation of children with cancer (p˂0.001, F=33/396). Bonferroni post hoc test showed that the FRIENDS method was more effective than the play therapy method on the adaptation of children with cancer (p˂0.001).
Conclusion: Both FRIENDS and play therapy methods affect the adaptation of children with cancer; But FRIENDS method was more than cognitive-behavioral play therapy.

Keywords


  1. Teepen JC, Kok JL, Kremer LC, Tissing WJ, Van Den Heuvel-Eibrink MM, Loonen JJ, Bresters D, van Der Pal
    HJ, Versluys B, Van Dulmen-den Broeder E, Nijsten T. Long-term risk of skin cancer among childhood cancer
    survivors: a DCOG-LATER cohort study. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2019 Aug 1;111(8):845-
    53.
    2. Carrion-Plaza A, Jaen J, Montoya-Castilla I. HabitApp: New Play Technologies in Pediatric Cancer to Improve the
    Psychosocial State of Patients and Caregivers. Frontiers in psychology. 2020 Feb 7;11:157.
    3. Almasi-Hashiani A, Zareifar S, Hosseini H, Dehghan A. Determination of risk factors involved in recurrence of
    leukemia in children, Fars Province, Iran. Journal of Arak University of medical sciences. 2012; 15(61): 1-7.
    4. Harper FW, Albrecht TL, Trentacosta CJ, Taub JW, Phipps S, Penner LA. Understanding differences in the longterm psychosocial adjustment of pediatric cancer patients and their parents: an individual differences resources
    model. Translational behavioral medicine. 2019 Jun;9(3):514-22.
    5. Mertens AC, Yasui Y, Neglia JP, Potter JD, Nesbit Jr ME, Ruccione K, Smithson WA, Robison LL. Late mortality
    experience in five-year survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer: The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.
    Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2001 Jul 1;19(13):3163-72.
    6. Malti T, Noam GG, Beelmann A, Sommer S. Toward dynamic adaptation of psychological interventions for child
    and adolescent development and mental health. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. 2016 Nov
    1;45(6):827-36.
    7. Mazaheri A, Baghban I, Fatehizadeh M. The effect of group self-esteem training on students' social adjustment.
    Daneshvar, 2017; 13 (16): 49-56.
    8. Cahill LS, Rennie MY, Hoggarth J, Lisa XY, Rahman A, Seed M, Macgowan CK, Sled JG. Feto‐ and
    utero‐ placental vascular adaptations to chronic maternal hypoxia in the mouse. The Journal of Physiology. 2018
    Aug 1;596(15):3285-97.
    9. Al‐ Gamal E, Long T. Health‐ related quality of life and its association with self‐ esteem and fatigue among
    children diagnosed with cancer. Journal of clinical nursing. 2016 Nov;25(21-22):3391-9.
    10. Finegold JA, Asaria P, Francis DP. Mortality from ischaemic heart disease by country, region, and age: statistics
    from World Health Organisation and United Nations. International journal of cardiology. 2013 Sep 30;168(2):934-
    45.
    11. Liddle I, Macmillan S. Evaluating the FRIENDS programme in a Scottish setting. Educational Psychology in
    Practice. 2010 Mar 1;26(1):53-67.
    12. Mohammad Eameil E. Play therapy: theories, methods and clinical applications. Tehran: Danjeh. 2015.
    13. Batra P. Evaluation of the Hong Kong FRIENDS intervention program for Childhood anxiety. Alliant International
    University; 2013.
  2. 14. Rodgers A, Dunsmuir S. A controlled evaluation of the ‘FRIENDS for Life’emotional resiliency programme on
    overall anxiety levels, anxiety subtype levels and school adjustment. Child and Adolescent Mental Health. 2015
    Feb;20(1):13-9.
    15. Ironson S. Child psychopathology (3rd ed). New York: Giulford Press. 2013.
    16. Alessandri P, Bucher A, Nice H j. Prevalence of mental disorder and psychological impairments in adolescents and
    young adults. Psychological medicine, 2015: 28(1); 109-126
    17. Dokhanchi H. Children's social adaptability scale. 1998. Retrieved from http:// www.ravancav.ir
    18. Liddle I, Macmillan S. Evaluating the FRIENDS programmer in a Scottish setting. Educational Psychology in
    Practice. 2010 Mar 1;26(1):53-67.
    19. Bagheri N, Shehni Yailagh M, Alipoor S, Zargar Y. Investigating effectiveness of school-based group activity play
    therapy on behavior problems of the elementary school male students in Shahrekord. J Shahrekord Univ Med Sci.
    2017; 19 (1) :148-157
    20. Heshmati R, AsliOnari R, Shokrollahi R. The effectiveness of group play therapy techniques on state anxiety,
    positive emotions and general adjustment levels of children with special learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities,
    2016; 5 (4): 7-24.
    21. Ghadmapour E, Shahbazi Rad A, Mohammadi F, Abbasi M. The effectiveness of unpredictable play therapy on
    reducing behavioral disorders in preschool children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 2016; 11 (38): 1-15.