The effect of group discussion on mother-child conflicts admitted to child psychiatric wards

Introduction: Parents are a factor in the quality of child care and treatment in psychiatric wards, and mother-child conflicts have a significant impact on the prognosis of treatment. Method: In a randomized controlled clinical trial, 64 mother-child couples referred to the child psychiatric wards of Noor Hospital in Isfahan in 2020 participated. The intervention group participated in eight 90-minute sessions of group discussion of parent-child conflicts; No intervention was performed in the control group. The parent-child conflict was measured before and one month after the intervention with the standard parent-child conflict scale of Strauss. Results: The score of mothers' conflicts before training was 39.00 ± 9.33 in the intervention group and 38.15 ± 6.38 in the control group, which was not significantly different (p <0.05). One month later, the mean scores of the intervention group were 31.09 ± 5.58 and the control group was 40.34 ±6.46 which had a significant difference (p <0.001). The score of children's conflicts before training was 46.15 ± 8.59 in the intervention group and 46.60± 6.18 in the control group, which was not significantly different (p <0.05). One month later, the mean scores of the intervention group were 39.15. 8.79 and the control group was 45.34 ±4.92, which was significantly different (p <0.05). Conclusion: Group discussion was effective on mother-child conflicts admitted to child psychiatric wards. Therefore, this method and content of the training can be effective in controlling conflicts and it is recommended to be considered in the patient education program.