Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Psychotherapie
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The Effect of Mindfulness, Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Academic Training on Conduct and Academic Problems of Disadvantaged Children

Ashna Gupta and S.P.K. Jena

The present research studies the application of three treatment components to tackle conduct and academicproblems of disadvantaged children. The treatment components serve as the independent variables in this study.These are: Mindfulness (M), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Academic Training (AT). The componentswere applied individually, in combinations of two and all three components together, giving rise to seven treatmentconditions: Mindfulness (Group 1); CBT (Group 2); Academic Training (Group 3). Three groups consisted of 2treatment components-Mindfulness+CBT (Group 4); Mindfulness+Academic Training (Group 5); CBT+AcademicTraining (Group 6); and Mindfulness+CBT+Academic Training (Group 7). Screening and diagnosis were carried outusing three standardized psychometric tests: Childhood Adolescent Mindfulness Measure, ChildhoodPsychopathology Measurement Scale, and Diagnostic Test of Learning Disability, along with direct observation andrating scales. A total of 35 children in the age group 10 to 13 were recruited from a number of potential candidates.All the children were studying in Government schools and suffered from conduct and academic problems. Thesubjects were randomly allotted into seven groups of five children each. The study used a single case A-B-A designwith 3 sets of follow ups to test the seven treatment conditions. The results were analysed using descriptive analysis(Mean, SD and percentage change) and inferential statistical analysis (Mann Whitney U Test, and Kruskal Wallis HTest). The analyses demonstrate statistically significant differences in post treatment conduct and academic levels inall 7 groups. The descriptive and inferential analysis shows that treatment condition which combined all threetreatment components i.e. Group 7 (M+CBT+AT), showed the highest efficacy and resulted in significantimprovements in both conduct and academics. This study highlights the efficacy of multi-component treatments oversingle component treatments. The findings of this body of work suggest the pressing need for implementing multi-component therapy to treat disadvantaged children suffering from conduct and academic problems. It also impliesthe urgent need for further research into multi-component interventions to develop even more effective therapeuticprograms in future .