ABSTRACT

Introduction: Human is a social being who needs to have a relationship with other human beings. Lack of appropriate and satisfying social relationships or the sense of loneliness has devastating effects on health and quality of life. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of coping cat program on the loneliness of 8-12 years old children.

Method: This classic experimental study was conducted on 60 primary school children in Aliabad Kotoul (Golestan province) in 2019. Sampling was done by convenience method and the samples were randomly divided into two intervention and control groups. The intervention group received the coping cat program in 16 sessions. Data were collected by a demographic questionnaire and the Usher’s loneliness scale and then were analyzed by SPSS software version 20 using independent t-test, paired t-test and covariance test.

Results: The mean score of loneliness before the intervention in the intervention and control groups was 66.66 ± 520.3 and 70 ± 9.82, respectively. But after the intervention, the mean score of loneliness reduced to 62.03 + 9.71 in the intervention group and 69.71 + 12.23 in the control group, which showed a statistically significant difference (P = 0.01), so that 11% of post-test changes could be explained by independent variables and the intervention (P = 0.008, Eta = 0.11).

Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of coping cat program in reducing the students’ loneliness, it is recommended to use this non-pharmacological but effective and attractive method to reduce the sense of loneliness and increase the quality of life and social skills of children.

Keywords: Coping cat program, Loneliness, Children