The Effectiveness of Group Play Therapy on Anxiety in Children and Adolescent with Type I Diabetes

Diabetes, is major stressor agents in life and one of the most common and most serious diseases in childhood, and associated with psychological problems. Children and adolescents with diabetes, as well as children with other chronic diseases, may be at increased risk of psychosocial problems and experience level of anxiety. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of group play therapy on anxiety in children and adolescent with type I diabetes. This was a quasi-experimental study (the nonequivalent control group design with pretest and posttest). For this purpose, 27 children and adolescent referred to a number of diabetes clinics in Mashhad (2014), were selected by availability sampling and randomly allocated into control (n = 13) and experimental (n = 14) groups. The experimental group received 12 sessions (90-minute) based on group play therapy. Both groups were assessed by the Revised Children''s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) before and after the intervention. For data analysis, multivariate analysis of covariance test was performed. The results indicate that, there was significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores, in experimental group (P < 0.001). So, we can say that anxiety was significantly decreased in the experimental group than the control group after the intervention. These findings of this study shows that group play could be effective in reducing anxiety levels in children with type I diabetes.