Investigating the Effects of 'Philosophy for Children' Program on the Reduction of Psychosomatic Disorders Symptoms in 9-11 Age Boys

Abstract

This study is investigating the impact of "Philosophy for Children" Program on the reduction of the symptoms of psychosomatic disorders in children aged 9 to 11 years in Iran. The sample of the study consists of 45 primary school boy students who were randomly selected using multistage random cluster sampling from among 19 districts of Education. This is a Quasiexperimental method research with experimental and control groups. Research tool in this study was Achenbach questionnaire form YSR (Youth Self-report). At first, using this questionnaire, all third and forth graders in two schools were selected by screening in which 45 ones got a score which showed psychosomatic disorders that all of them were eager to take part in the study. The test group, during a 12 sessions in a week, for 1 hour, participated in community of philosophical inquiry-the method of "Philosophy for Children" Program-with a training coach. After the end of the sessions, Achenbach's re-test, on both control and test groups, was taken to determine the effect of holding the "Philosophy for Children" Program on psychosomatic disorders. The results of this study showed that the implementation of this program has a significant effect in reducing symptoms of psychosomatic disorder of test group.

Philosophical Activity of Students with Different Educational Needs

“…Then, an analysis of the issue was carried out, which encouraged the children to think about irrational beliefs and false judgments, and evaluate their thoughts with other children. The research results after the completion of all the sessions showed that the implementation of this program had a significant influence on reducing the symptoms of psychosomatic disorders in the test group (Shatalebi, Hedayat 2016).…”