Reduktion der auf Spinnen bezogenen Ängste durch Psychoedukation bei 8- bis 9-jährigen Kindern – eine Pilotstudie
Abstract
Fragestellung: Spinnen rufen bei Menschen der westlichen Bevölkerung häufig Gefühle von Angst und Ekel hervor und gelten daher als die unbeliebtesten aller Arthropoden. Die klinisch relevante Ausprägung dieser Angst, die Spinnenphobie, ist eine häufig auftretende Angststörung, die meist in der frühen Kindheit beginnt und ohne Behandlung bis ins Erwachsenenalter chronisch verläuft. Ätiologische Modelle betonen die Rolle des Modelllernens und der negativen Informationstransmission bei der Entstehung der Störung. Obwohl sehr wirkungsvolle psychotherapeutische Methoden zur Verfügung stehen, werden diese Kindern oft vorenthalten. Meist wird eine spontane Remission erwartet, die jedoch sehr selten ist. Methodik: In der vorliegenden Studie wurde ein psychoedukatives Programm zum Thema Spinnen für Grundschulkinder entwickelt und dessen Wirksamkeit an einer Gruppe von 36 Kindern im Alter von 8 bis 10 Jahren evaluiert. Das Ziel der Pilotstudie war es, vor allem die Durchführbarkeit des Programmes zu überprüfen. Ergebnisse: Es zeigte sich eine Reduktion der Spinnenängstlichkeit durch Psychoedukation bei Mädchen und Jungen mit hoher oder moderater Spinnenängstlichkeit. Schlussfolgerungen: Das Programm könnte einen wertvollen Beitrag in der Prävention von Spinnenphobie leisten und sollte im Rahmen zukünftiger kontrollierter Studien überprüft werden.
Objective: In Western societies spiders are among the least liked of all arthropods, eliciting feelings of fear and disgust. The clinical manifestation of this fear – spider phobia – is a common anxiety disorder. In most cases the disorder has an early onset in childhood. The symptoms show a chronic course and can persist into adulthood if not treated. Etiological models emphasize the role of modeling and negative information transmission for the acquisition of the disorder. Even though powerful psychotherapeutic methods exist, referral to treatment is rather uncommon for children. Often spontaneous remission is expected, but that is atypical. Method: The current study developed a psychoeducative program on spiders for elementary school children and evaluated it on a sample of 36 children aged 8 to 10 years. The main goal of this pilot study was to test the feasibility of the program. Results: The study showed a reduction of fear of spiders after psychoeducation in girls and boys with previously high or moderate fear of spiders. Conclusions: The program could become a valuable contribution to the prevention of spider phobia and should be evaluated in future controlled trials.
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