Effectiveness of Incredible Years’ Cognitive Program on behavioral problems of children with behavioral disorder

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of parent-based Incredible Years’ Cognitive Program on behavioral problems of children with behavioral disorder in Isfahan city. The present research was a semi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test design and control group. The participants were 30 mothers of children with behavioral disorder from Amirkabir Elementary School in Isfahan city who were selected using convenient sampling method. Subjects were assigned to experimental and control groups randomly, each group consisting of 15 mothers. The experiment group members participated in 12 sessions of Incredible Years’ Cognitive Program, while the control group did not receive the intervention. The tool used was Rutter’s Child Problem Behaviors Questionnaire for parents (1975). Multivariate analysis of covariance was done by SPSS (version 23) for analyzing the data. The results showed that Incredible Years’ Cognitive Program training had a significant effect on the behavioral problems and all subscales (aggression and hyperactivity, anxiety and depression, social maladjustment, antisocial behaviors, attention shortage) of children with behavioral disorders (P<0.001). Incredible Years’ Cognitive Program training improved the behavioral problems of children with behavioral disorder. In other words, applying this training program has been associated with effective and positive outcomes. Therefore, paying attention to the Incredible Years’ Cognitive Program is essential and planning for providing training of this type of cognitive program for mothers of children with behavioral disorder is of particular importance.