Effects of a Group Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment on Preschool Children's Responses to Dental Treatment

In an attempt to enhance its cost-benefit advantages, the coping skills training procedure of Siegel and Peterson (1980) was applied in a small group setting to 10 preschool children about to undergo dental treatment Compared to an experimenter-contact control group of seven children, the children who received coping skills training cried less, less frequently refused to open their mouths, and made fewer choking sounds while undergoing dental treatment The groups did not differ on a self-report measure of anxiety nor on heart rate during dental treatment Although limited in scope, the effects of the group treatment appear to be sufficient to indicate further empirical investigation of this format.