Iranian Journal of War and Public Health

Aims: This study examined the effects of an eight-session, child-centered self-compassion program on resilience and separation anxiety in war-affected children.
Materials & Methods: This nonrandomized controlled trial used a pretest–posttest control-group design. Sixty children aged 8–12 years with documented war-related stressful events were recruited from two support centers in Tehran and nonrandomly assigned by the first author through consecutive allocation. Allocation was not concealed. The intervention group received eight weekly 60-minute sessions. The control group received only the usual support-center services. Resilience and separation anxiety were assessed at pretest and posttest. Data were analyzed using ANCOVA, with pretest scores as covariates.
Findings: At baseline, the groups were comparable. Mean resilience scores increased from 49.27±6.34 to 67.91±5.72 in the intervention group, compared with 48.83±6.11 to 50.12±6.27 in the control group. Mean separation anxiety scores decreased from 43.18 ± 6.52 to 27.46±5.61 in the intervention group, compared with 42.71±6.38 to 41.26±6.45 in the control group. After adjustment, the groups differed in resilience (F(1, 57) = 91.64; p<0.001; ηp² = 0.615; 95% CI=17.05 [14.18, 19.92]) and separation anxiety (F(1, 57) = 84.27; p<0.001; ηp² = 0.597; 95% CI=−13.30 [−16.09, −10.51]). The adjusted posttest means were 67.54 ± 1.02 versus 50.49±1.01 for resilience and 27.71±0.99 versus 41.01±0.98 for separation anxiety. These effect sizes may be inflated because of the small sample and nonrandom allocation.
Conclusion: An eight-session, child-centered self-compassion training program is associated with increased resilience and reduced separation anxiety among war-affected children in Tehran.