Development of Social Cognitive Experiential Play Intervention (SCEPI) : A Pilot Study

Oppositional defiant disorder is one of the most frequent behavioral problems of children which is characterized by forms of aggression such as physical harm, argumentativeness, active defiance and disobedience. It influence adversely on individual, social, educational and other areas of individuals' functioning. Understanding the need of an intervention which target the aggression of children with oppositional defiant disorder symptoms and making the child more socially oriented with prosocial behaviors the researcher developed the 'Social Cognitive Experiential Play Intervention (SCEPI)' based on the Social information processing and cognitive theories in a play therapy paradigm to reduce aggression and to enhance prosocial behavior. The newly developed intervention was exposed to expert's evaluation by six inter- disciplinary specialists and a feasibility test was piloted with ten children having oppositional defiant disorder symptoms who were in high aggression and low prosocial behavior. The intervention was really made positive impact in participants and the analysis of the pilot study showed significant reduction in aggression and increase in prosocial behavior among the children.