Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran
Abstract
Separation anxiety disorder is the most common childhood anxiety disorder, so the present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effect of teaching rhythmic movement games and play therapy based on parent-child relationship on emotional self-regulation and separation anxiety of first grade students in Malayer city. This research was a type of field experiments with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of this research was all the students of the first grade of primary school in Melair city in the academic year of 1402-1401, who were randomly selected by purposeful sampling from among the primary schools of the city using the separation anxiety disorder screening questionnaire, the emotional self-regulation questionnaire and conducting a structured clinical interview. They were assigned to two intervention groups and one control group. Two types of play therapy interventions were implemented and finally the post-test data were collected one week after the interventions. In general, the results showed that both play therapy interventions have a significant effect on reducing separation anxiety symptoms and increasing emotional self-regulation in students (p>0.05). But the play therapy intervention based on the parent-child relationship was more effective in reducing the symptoms of separation anxiety than teaching rhythmic movement games. Therefore, it is suggested that play therapy techniques be taught to counselors and teachers of elementary schools as well as preschool teachers so that they can use it in dealing with anxious children in their class.
Keywords
- Keywords: Separation anxiety
- emotional self-regulation
- rhythmic movement games
- play therapy based on parent-child relationship
Main Subjects
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