Effectiveness of Coping Cat Program on the Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Phobia in Male and Female Children with Anxiety Disorders

Introduction: Anxiety disorders can cause many problems for children. Therefore, it is necessary to find ways to promote their anxiety reduction.  This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of coping cat program (CCP) on symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia in children with anxiety disorders.   Materials & Methods: This experimental study was conducted based on a pretest-posttest design with a control group. Statistical population consisted of all male and female students aged 8 to 11 years with anxiety disorders in Bandar Abbas, Iran during 2019. This study included 32 children who were selected through a random cluster sampling method and were divided randomly into two groups of experimental and control. The experimental group was subjected to 16 sessions of CCP. The data were collected using the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and analyzed by the Analysis of Variance and Analysis of Covariance. Ethics code: IR.HUMS.REC.1398.127   Findings: The results showed significant difference between the control and experimental groups after the intervention. Moreover, the CCP had a significant effect on improving the generalized anxiety (F=52.03, P<0.05) and social phobia (F=78.20, P<0.05) in the experimental group.   Discussion & Conclusions: According to the findings, CCP is an effective way to improve children's anxiety disorders and can have many practical implications.