COVID-19 AND TELE-HEALTH, EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNET-DELIVERED PARENT-CHILD INTERACTION THERAPY ON IMPULSIVITY INDEX IN CHILDREN WITH NON-METASTATIC CANCER PARENTS: A PILOT RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Objective: COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on the psychological state of society and has made the importance of planning evidence-based interventions even more apparent. Despite advances in telecommunication technologies to facilitate access to psychological care, the use of this technology in psychology has been limited and few studies have been conducted in this field. The present study is the first controlled trial of applying video-teleconferencing to use parent-child interaction therapy in Iranian society. Patients and Methods: In a pilot randomized controlled trial, during May to November 2020 and from families with a mother with non-metastatic cancer, 42 parents and children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) were selected through purposive sampling method and were assigned into two groups of internet-delivered parent-child interaction therapy (I-PCIT) and waiting list (WL). After three weeks of baseline evaluation, twelve weekly I-PCIT sessions were presented to the experimental group in the form of video-teleconferencing based on Landers and Bratton model. The data were analyzed by semi-parametric test of Generalized Estimation Equation (GEE). Results: The primary outcome showed that I-PCIT had a significant effect on all three motor, cognitive and non-planning impulsiveness components of children (all's p<0.05). The secondary outcome showed that changes in the three components of impulsivity persisted until the follow-up stage (all's p<0.05). Conclusions: Given the cost-effectiveness and easy access to the Internet model of this treatment, the application of new technology in teaching parent-child interaction in Pandemic of COVID-19 seems to have a promising and growing role.