Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program on Mental Health Problems in Children Dealing with Trauma: Focused on Community District Victimized by Oil Spill

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study was done to evaluate the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy in a victimized community district and to determine if the program is an effective nursing intervention to reduce posttraumatic stress disorder symptom, depression and state anxiety. METHODS: A nonequivalent control group design was used for the study. The participants, 32 elementary school students, were selected from grades 4, 5, 6 and each student was assigned to either the experimental (16) or control (16) group. Cognitive behavioral therapy was used as the experimental treatment from April 9 to May 28, 2009. The experimental group received cognitive behavior therapy intervention 8 times. Data analysis was done using ANCOVA with SPSS 17.0. RESULTS: After the intervention, the experimental group showed significantly lower levels of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms than the control group. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective nursing intervention to decrease the level of mental health problems of children in victimized district. Further research is required in order to identify the continuous effects of cognitive behavioral therapy.