The Effect of Creative Drama on Internalizing Disorders in Preschool Children

Background and Purpose: Internalizing disorders have long-term impacts on the level of behavioral, physical, cognitive and emotional reactions in children. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of creative drama on decreasing internalizing disorders in pre-school children. This quasi-experimental study was of pretest-posttest control group design. The research population consisted of all preschool girls studying at West Tehran preschools in the academic year of 2014-2015. The sample included 30 children selected by cluster sampling and assigned randomly either to the experimental or the control group. Then, the children of the experimental group underwent ten 45-minute sessions of creative drama training. child behavior checklist (Achenbach, 2001) was used as the research tool in the screening, pretest and posttest phases. Finally, the collected data were analyzed through SPSS by using analysis of covariance. Findings revealed that creative drama had a significant effect on decreasing the isolation/depression and anxiety/depression sub-scales of internalizing disorders in the experimental group (p<0.05). However, it had no effect on the physical complaints. By creating mental dynamism and by leading to externalization of feelings which could not be previously expressed, creative drama can decrease internalizing disorders in children. Therefore, child psychologists and therapists can consider creative drama as a therapeutic method in the treatment of internalizing disorders.