The Effectiveness of Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) on Dimesions of Family Functioning in Mothers of Preschool Children: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Family functioning is an important factor in relationships and health of family, which can be improved by Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT). This study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of CPRT on family functioning in mothers of preschool children.

This quasi-experimental research had a pretest-posttest control group design. The statistical population was mothers of preschool children of Isfahan City in the academic year 2020-2021. Using the random cluster sampling, 60 people were selected and randomly assigned to experimental (n=30) and control (n=30) groups. First, the McMaster Family Assessment Device was performed as pretest across the two groups. Then, the experimental group participated in CPRT for ten sessions, but the control group remained on the waiting list. After completing treatment sessions, the posttest was also performed in two groups, and the collected data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).

The results of MANCOVA showed that the linear combination of dimentions of family functioning was significantly different between two groups (Wilks' lambda=0.635, F45,7=3.423, p=0.005). The results of univariate analysis of covariance also showed significantly lower scores (better functioning) in dimentions of problem solving (p= 0.004), communication, and affective involvement (p<0.001) in the experimental group.

The results of the current study suggested that Child Parent Relationship Therapy is an effective threatment for improving the family functioning. It is recommended that this treatment can have beneficial results for the whole family even if it is implemented with the participation of only one of the parents and their children.