The Effectiveness of Thought Stopping Therapy Reducing Anxiety Among Mothers With Under-Five Stunted Children: A Quasi-Experimental Study
Keywords:
Thought stopping, Anxiety, Mothers with under five stunted childrenAbstract
Children with stunted growth experience impaired development, such as low motor and cognitive abilities. Parents, especially mothers, with stunted children often experience anxiety and fear about their children’s future regarding their developmental delays, and guilt about their children's condition. The parents' anxiety, especially the mother's anxiety, can impact the relationship between the mother and child. Thought stopping therapy can reduce maternal anxiety by overcoming negative thoughts and stopping disturbing or threatening thoughts. This study is among the first to test thought stopping therapy specifically for mothers of stunted children. This study aims to determine the effect of thought stopping therapy on the anxiety levels of mothers of stunted children under five. This study is a quasi-experiment with a pretest-posttest and control group design. The researchers used the purposive sampling technique to obtain a sample comprising 60 mothers, of whom 30 were in the intervention group and 30 were in the control group. In the intervention group, maternal anxiety was measured before and after the thought stopping therapy was given. The therapy was given over 3 sessions for 3 days. In the control group, maternal anxiety was measured before and after the participants were given deep breathing relaxation techniques to reduce anxiety. Anxiety levels were measured using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS). Meanwhile, the Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests analyzed the data obtained. There was a significant difference in the participants’ anxiety levels before and after the thought stopping therapy intervention and standard education (p = 0.0001). Thought stopping therapy is effective in reducing anxiety in mothers of stunted children under five.
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