The Impact of Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy on Emotion Regulation and Assertiveness in Elementary School Girls
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Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of CBPT in improving emotion regulation and assertiveness in elementary school girls.
Methods and Materials: A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was used. The statistical population included elementary school girls in Qods City during the 2024–2025 academic year. Thirty students with low scores in emotion regulation and assertiveness were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 15) or a control group (n = 15). The experimental group participated in ten 90-minute CBPT sessions over a period of five weeks. Data were collected using the Children’s Emotion Management Scale (Zeman et al., 2001) and the Gambrill & Richey Assertiveness Questionnaire (1975). Data analysis was conducted using MANCOVA and ANCOVA.
Findings: A significant improvement was observed in emotion regulation (F = 136.495, P < 0.001, η² = 0.840) and assertiveness (F = 78.832, P < 0.001, η² = 0.752) in the experimental group compared to the control group.
Conclusion: CBPT effectively enhances emotion regulation and assertiveness in elementary school girls. These findings suggest integrating CBPT into school-based psychological programs to support children’s emotional and social development.
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