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Bibliotherapy Combined With Games to Reduce Fear of the Dark in Young Children

NCT07067320 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 39

Last updated 2025-07-16

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Intense fear of the dark is a common issue among children, which can interfere with their daily functioning at family, social, and academic levels. This study aims to analyse the effectiveness of a psychotherapeutic intervention based on bibliotherapy combined with play to overcome the fear of the dark in children between 4 and 8 years old. A total of 38 children participated, who were assigned to the experimental and control conditions on the waiting list. The bibliotherapy intervention in the experimental condition involved reading a book and playing the games proposed in each chapter. The intervention was applied by parents at home with their children (during 4-5 weeks) and contained cognitive-behavioural techniques, such as gradual in vivo exposure, relaxation techniques, modelling and positive reinforcement, among others. It is expected that children's nighttime fears will decrease significantly and there will be significant improvements in nighttime behaviour.

Conditions

  • Bibliotherapy
  • Fear of the Dark
  • Nighttime Fears

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Bibliotherapy combined with games to overcome fear of the dark

Bibliotherapy combined with games, applied by parents at home. Treatment based on cognitive-behavioural techniques. Duration: 4-5 weeks. Experimental group recived this bibliotherapeutic intervention.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Universidad Miguel Hernandez de Elche

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
3 Years
Max Age
8 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2023-04-24
Primary Completion
2024-10-18
Completion
2024-10-18

Countries

  • Spain

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07067320 on ClinicalTrials.gov