The Effectiveness of a Counseling Program for Reducing Nightmares
and Improving Sleep Quality among Gaza Children
with Destroyed Houses in 2014 War
Etaf Abu Ghali Joltan Hijazi
:Abstract
The study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a counseling program for reducing nightmares and improving sleep quality among Gaza children whose houses were being destroyed during (2014) war. The study sample was composed of (18) children whose ages ranged from (10-12) years, and who suffered from frequent nightmares and poor sleep quality. The participants were randomly divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control group, each of which consisted of (9) children. While a counseling program was administered to participants in the experimental group, the control group did not receive any treatment. Results reported the effectiveness of the techniques based on cognitive behavioral theory in reducing nightmares and improving sleep quality among the experimental group participants in comparison with those in the control one. Additionally, the study showed that while there were statistically significant differences between the pre-measurement and post-measurement of the experimental group in favor of the post measurement (i.e., reducing nightmares and improving sleep quality), there were no differences between the post-measurement and the follow-up-measurement.